Good Intentions

The healthcare bill has some good things but at what cost. The whole issue of cost is what has kept most people out of the insurance market in the first place. This bill does nothing to address cost and adds millions more to a broken system.  Spending will skyrocket eventually. The ultimate effect will be either rationing (See Canada, UK, etc.), more tax increases, and/or massive debt.  


So, at some point we will be left with the dilemma of sacrificing either the quality of care we are accustomed to or the economic opportunity of our children.  We might feel better about the "moral implications" in the short run, but in the the long run, the bill will eventually come due and someone will have to pay. 


And, let's not forget about the unfunded liabilities of Medicare and Social Security.  We're talking tens of trillions of debt that has to be paid back with those two programs alone.  


Scary times.

First off, please don't buy the straw man argument that because conservatives are against the current Democratic offering they want to do nothing. This could not be further from the truth. We DO want to improve the healthcare system. The question is how do we do it without bankrupting the country, lowering the quality care, and giving up our right to choose the doctor or plan we want.

Laser eye surgery has the highest patient satisfaction ratings of any surgery, it has been performed more than 3 million times in the past decade, it is new, it is high-tech, it has gotten better over time and... laser eye surgery has fallen in price. In 1998 the average price of laser eye surgery was about $2200 per eye. Today the average price is $1350, that's a decline of 38 percent in nominal terms and slightly more than that after taking into account inflation.

Another example of how the government establishment chooses to fight it's battles. From the CourierPostOnline: