Robert Pear’s New York Times article about Hillary Clinton‘s and Barack Obama‘s health care plans has an alarming statistic. Medicare and Medicaid, our two government-funded health programs, cost our country $627 billion last year – or 23% of all federal spending. Many people like to criticize the Iraq War for its cost – proclaiming that it could bankrupt our nation. Over the past 3 years, defense spending (that includes everything….not just Iraq) has accounted for about 4% of the U.S. Economy…the same percentage enjoyed during the “peace dividend” in the early 90’s after the fall of the Soviet Empire — a historic low.
If anything is going to bankrupt us, it’s the rising costs of health care. According to the Congressional Budget Office, with no change in law or coverage policies, in 10 years costs will double, and Medicare and Medicaid will make up 30% of our annual budget.
Not only is this unsustainable (we’ll be Greece), the notion of covering additional people under these programs…those not currently covered under either program’s mission, presents a fiscal impossibility.
I could only draw one conclusion from these facts. We must rein in the cost of administering health care in this country BEFORE we do anything else. If we could create a market for health care, we could reduce costs through simplified billing and collections, and price transparency. More people would be able to afford preventative care and wouldn’t need Medicaid. www.doctorpricing.com.
Heck, maybe if we pulled 30-40% of current costs out of the process through a well-oiled free market system, everyone in this country could be insured….and we could reduce government spending and taxation. Maybe…
Expanding goverment medical coverage to cover more people without addressing the soaring oresent costs of administration will create a budgetary black hole. Our country will collapse in on itself.
Laissez-faire Healthcare Blog 