Wow! After listening to the complete Supreme Court arguments twice, today, I can honestly say that because true health isn’t a core societal value, the resulting sickness…translated into the demand for services, and the accompanying prices (from the providers) of services, has conspired to push us into a constitutional predicament that’s playing out right now.
Insurance (any kind) works when a whole bunch of people that don’t need it cover the costs of the rare few who do. It’s about spreading and sharing risk…period. It stops working when everyone needs it. I simply ask, “How much would we expect fire insurance to cost, if 70% of our houses caught fire every year.”
At the very core, we are unhealthy, sick, and getting sicker…while at the same time, getting older. We don’t want the “food police” to infringe on our rights and tell us what to eat (though government policy makes the bad food really cheap).
So, hold on to your hats. Regardless of who pays and how it’s funded, costs are going up! Unlimited, increasing demand has never caused prices to drop (ECON 101).
If we valued true health as a society, the demand for care would be less, and we wouldn’t have any issues covering/paying for those that really need care. Prevention and health SHOULD be a societal priority. But it isn’t.
We have no leader imploring us with an “ask not what you can take from our health care system, but what you can do to avoid it in the first place.” We have no leader asking us to share in the responsibility of caring for the sickness of others, by caring for ones’ own health, first. We have no leader demanding that we get healthy and fight health care costs, together.
Good health would save the system more than ANY regulation could…not to mention the increase in vitality of our fellow man. Good health is the cheapest insurance…period. If Maytag could put the repairman out of business, why can we? — Can’t wait for tomorrow’s arguments. Hold on to your hats!
GH
