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While this is a wonderful discussion, I believe we may be missing the point here. I will stick with medical care because that is the subject that has emerged in the last few posts; plus it is a subject I’ve recently had extensive dealings with.

Ron is correct from the standpoint that it makes no difference as to the motive assigned to the majority. Both ignorance and malevolence are equally capable of wresting control of major life decisions and depositing those decisions with the government.

Ivan is correct in that most people never actually contemplate the costs involved in healthcare. You either have it or you don’t. I’ll admit that I myself fell into this former category until my wife was recently hospitalized.

It is interesting to note a few facts here. The terms of my coverage state that the maximum ‘out-of-pocket’ cost for any covered individual is $1,500 per annum. Once that threshold is achieved in the words of our hospital assigned Financial Counselor “Your worries are over. The insurance company is responsible for all costs after that point.”

This is misleading. My wife was hospitalized with lower bowel obstructions, which were ultimately diagnosed to be caused by adhesions from a previous surgery performed over a decade ago. Needless to say; almost three weeks in the hospital, numerous laboratory tests, C-T scans, consultations, surgery to clear the adhesions, and post operative recovery amounted to over $75,000 on the billing statement the hospital assigned counselor was kind enough to provide to me upon her discharge.

At first blush; I thought “Wow, without this coverage; we’d be broke, and then some!” Then I really began to look at the pages. The bill is broken into sub-sections; room, disposables, intravenous applications, medications, laboratory, and on and on. Each sub-section is totalized with three numbers. The number in the first column represents the hospital’s charge for the device, test, pill, or service. The second column is the amount reimbursed by the insurance company. The third column is the difference remaining; usually anywhere from 35 to 40 percent of what was originally billed.

This was an eye-opener for me. While I cannot remember exactly the total on the final page; it went something like this;

$75,000 Billed deductable $1,500 compensated $48,750 Total Paid $50,250

I thought someone had misled me. There was still $24,750 worth of ‘unpaid’ charges remaining on the bill. I called my insurance carrier and they assured me that I would not be receiving any other communications from the hospital’s billing department. They explained that all insurance carriers negotiated contracts with hospitals under their respective coverage umbrellas; and the hospital knew up front that they would only recoup a percentage of each charge.

Under these circumstances; my supposition would be that hospitals must ‘overcharge’ by a factor of 35% in order to ensure they recover enough dollars to cover actual costs. Also, anyone not possessing insurance is libel for 100% of the ‘over-billed’ price.

Now fast forward to universal care. Such a program would, I imagine, function as Medi-Care. The government would set an ABSOLUTE ceiling on the amount that could be billed for any item, drug, procedure, or service. If I remember things right from my mother’s hospitalizations prior to her death, these upper limits were usually somewhere @ 45% of actual cost. Unlike insurance contracts, there are no negotiations. Your only options are ghost billings (a felony) or eat the balance. Since the government probably doesn’t allow a business deduction to medical professionals’ tax returns for unpaid balances, how long do you think a physician can afford to maintain a practice under these circumstances?

This altruistic motive of assigning health care as a right without regard to cost will kill medical evolution in this country. Politicians do not care about people, they care about votes. If they grant ‘free’ medical care on the unwashed masses, those masses will reciprocate at the ballot box.

This cements the liberal agenda. They come closer to achieving the definitive goal of liberalism; sameness. Multiculturalism, nonjudgmentalism, secularism, and the elevation of groups over individuals, all point to the liberal goal of sameness. To the liberal being; having the largest possible group all exhibit the exact amount of ‘sameness’ IS fundamental equality.

That someone must eventually wait 6 months for an MRI or that Grandma is told to ‘Just go home and take one for the team.” matters not. As long as everyone waits the proscribed amount of time, or all Grandmas are refused treatment once they reach a designated ‘maximum’ age.

This is the challenge we face. Ron, ignorance or malevolence. Who cares? Ivan, tagging the people as ignorant or malevolent doesn’t help either. The central theme of the discussion is: Do we want and desire to be in control of our own destiny, and all that entails? The right to make our own decisions, to be wrong, and to suffer the consequences of those decisions? Or do we desire privilege; but still be able to hit the reset button at our whim?

I believe we’ve lost the definition of what ‘rights’ are. Rights are privileges irrevocably coupled to responsibilities. The privilege to drive is coupled to the responsibility of obeying the rules of the road and carrying liability insurance. Violate either of these responsibilities and your privilege may be restricted or revoked. This incessant caterwauling about privilege, without addressing the related responsibilities has led us to these crossroads. We’ve arrived at the final choice; Liberty or Death.

As for Mr, Ivanovich, if I may quote my piece, “The basic problem is the explosive nature of the cost of health care. It is universally acknowledged that American health care is the finest in the world — why else would foreigners flock here to access it? Unfortunately, its cost is exceedingly high and seemingly out of control.” Thus I do not dispute his assertion that our health care is excellent; it is its runaway cost, which is the problem that our government will supposedly fix.

Numbers are in real (2009) dollars.

In this posting Mr. Lipsman chooses three seemingly unconnected areas; energy production, health care, and education. His purpose is not only highlight government’s inability to solve a problem, but its inability to recognize that government interference was the original culprit in the cause of the problem.

I submit that Ron’s conclusion is incorrect. In each case, the US government knew in advance the likely outcomes of their original meddling! These and many other maneuverings were purposefully foisted on the American people by government. Each time government had the intention of diverting power unto itself; and if unintended consequences resulted in another opportunity to further effect change, so much the better

Energy – In 1890 the Congress passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The first target; Standard Oil. Standard Oil was broken up by decree of SCOTUS in 1911. In Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey vs. United States; the Supreme Court found Standard Oil guilty of monopolizing the oil industry through abusive and anti-competitive practices.

Fast forward to 1965 and the formation of OPEC. Twelve countries Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela bonded together to set oil production and pricing for the world. No other country had a company large enough to stand against the dictates of OPEC as was proven in 1973.

All along the way, Congress has been complicit in enacting legislation putting more and more acreage known to contain oil and natural gas reserves under restrictions specifically prohibiting the exploration and/or exploitation of those reserves. The final nail in this coffin will be cap & trade. The current administration has embarked on a course that will make ‘green’ energy a reality; not because of technical advancement, but because they will purposefully raise the cost of conventional energy generation to the point where wind and solar are no longer more expensive.

Education – Public Education has its roots in colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire in the 1600′s. Public Education was always recognized as a state issue. However in 1979, President Carter created the cabinet level Department of Education. In 1979 the average expenditure per student was $3,184. In 1984 it was $4,782. In 1989 it was $6,317. In 1994 it was $7,921. By 2007 this cost had risen to $8,701. Each increase in cost was followed by a decline in achievement scores for the children involved. It is interesting to note that while only about 10% of federal dollars make up any public school district’s funding; the amount of federal control exerted by the government for that money is significantly higher.

While the Congress and the Department of Education continue to micro manage the states’ school districts; children fall further and further behind their counterparts in other industrialized nations. All of the secular, politically correct, globalized views are taught to the students; along with endless presentations as to the ‘rights’ they may expect to be granted by government. Little “hard” education occurs any longer, and that which does is, more often than not, centered on problems that also involve climate change, social justice, or other liberal dogmas. A recent conversation with one of my nieces, public school educated, revealed to me something I previously had not known. She told me that she was taught that it was ALWAYS a good idea to recycle; even if the recycling process was so cost prohibitive as to drive an institution to bankruptcy. Under those conditions, the responsible thing to do was to absorb the cumulative costs in order to continue the recycling of that particular item. Granted; I was educated in the Catholic School System over a generation ago. I had no idea that such a conclusion, is today, considered to be conventional wisdom! No doubt, my niece is sailing down the path toward being a good little global citizen just as the Congress wants her to be.

Health Care – Since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, Congress has been directly involved in the expansion of health care benefits for a greater percentage of the population. The latest programs on the books allow families living at 2.5 times the poverty level to participate in a government run plan. No longer will the average income family have to choose between that big-screen HD TV and health coverage for their children. Thanks to government they can now have both.

There is no thought given to the opinion that in order to control cost, access will have to be restricted. Our President is telling everyone that the savings will be so great due to the economies of scale; the health care will “pay for itself.” No one even bothers to ask the question that “If single payer health care will save so much money, why is Congress working so hard to find a funding stream?”

Each of these above examples, and a myriad of others, shows the involvement of Congress from the beginning. They also show, I believe, that Congress knew exactly what it was doing, what the ramifications would be, and that they intended for these things to happen all along. More and more control exerted upon our lives while, at the same time, educating subsequent generations to be more accepting of that control.

Now you know the real reason the majority of Washington insiders place their children in private schools.