Health care

Posted by Ray on March 17, 2010 under Politics | Be the First to Comment

I have been on the phone trying to get through to my Congressman, Dan Maffei (D), all day long to voice my opposition to what is going on in Washington. His phone was busy and I finally got his voice mail which was full, but I wanted to give him a piece of my mind so I kept calling until I got through. I left him a scathing message with less than polite language so if you do not hear from me send care packages to GITMO c/o Ray. I really do not care what side of the issue you are on, but I hope you are voicing your opinion to your representative. I am opposed to the current bill and want them to start over. I am not in the camp of “there is nothing wrong here,” but this thing has gotten way out of hand.

Many of you know my position on this bill, it is bad news for the country, and even more shockingly is the fact that Congress went back into hiding to hammer out the details again. This whole thing is like watching a plane crash and you have 2 choices, get in front of it so it ends quickly or stay where you are and risk catching fire, both choices are bad. What is worse is the fact that they may not actually vote on the bill itself, but use a procedure that “deems it approved” which is crazy. Again we are hearing, well the Republicans did it hundreds of times, I am sure that is true, but on something this big? I think not.

The people deserve to know how their representatives are voting on this bill, either for or against, so the voter can voice their opinion at the polls in November, either for or against. To me this whole thing is just amazing and unreal as we just wrapped up the worst 8 years in American history, well, that I have been alive for at least, and now just as we thought we got rid of a tone deaf administration another tone deaf administration has taken its place. What makes this dangerous is the fact that Obama is an ego maniac, in my opinion, and refuses to admit that he is going against the peoples will, so much for change.

As many of you know, I have also been in the insurance industry for many years, I know how this stuff works. I am well connected in the research area and do a ton of consulting, which is why I am not posting as often now. I often get calls from Senators or Congress members seeking opinions on various topics, they know who I am. Now, here we are in the midst of one of the most important legislative changes ever to hit the insurance industry and guess how many calls I have received? None. Not only have I not received any calls, but neither have any of my other geeky friends who work in this industry. Now, how can this be? How can this bill be vetted by people in the industry when, myself not necessarily included, some of the brightest people I know of in the insurance industry never got one call from even the lowliest intern from Congress?

It makes no sense and it should make you concerned because lawyers are great at lawyer stuff, but they are not good at figuring out insurance issues. Most probably do not even know what the mortality tables look like or what tables we are even using now. They have no idea on how to balance risk or spread it around and I got news for you, there is no way you can insure everyone, pre-existing conditions or otherwise, without raising premiums through the roof. Especially if you eliminate annual or lifetime caps, it is just not possible because you need to pool the risk. To make matters worse, if we continue with the archaic state system that we have now it will be a complete disaster as there is no way to spread geographical risk. It makes my head hurt just thinking about what they are doing.

We need to do something, I agree with that, but this is insane and I guarantee you it is not what you think. Premiums will go higher now until 2014 and then, who knows what will happen because we have not seen the bill yet, however I am sure it is not good news for you. I am extremely sensitive to this topic as it impacts me more than it does the average person, but it is not possible to insure everyone and maintain good quality care. This is where I get into the argument I hear a lot from the left, they claim the U.N. says we are 37^th in terms of the quality of health care. First, the U.N. holds little weight with me as they seem to not really like us. Second, how can we add another 31M people to the system and expect to improve the quality of health care? It is not possible.

If what I think happens actually happens, many doctors will leave, the New England Journal of Medicine says one third of doctors will leave the business if this thing passes. Again, how would this increase the quality of care? With Dennis Kucinich all of a sudden signing on to this thing it makes me wonder what really happened when he was on Air Force One. Dennis is a public option fan and he was dead set against this bill, which is the Senate bill, but again, who really knows. Did Obama promise that the public option was on the way in the future? I suspect it is at some point and if it is doctors will leave the business. Medicare pays $26 an office visit, do you think doctors can stay in business at $26 a pop? Not a chance.

Maybe we could do it better than a Canada or a UK, but at the end of the day, I am not a fan of the government involved in my life. I do not want the government to know what drugs I am on, prescription I mean, or what health issues I might have. We also know that Medicare is a favorite for politicians to cut funding from, they tend to do it a lot, so when it becomes so large, on top of our debt, what do you think they will do to save money? They will cut health care, it is that simple. History shows what our elected officials will do and it is always in their best interests, never yours. I do not want even a stepping stone to a single payer system. However, I want some things down and you cannot tell me that you could not win an up or down vote on outlawing a preexisting condition clause on insurance contracts.

The last thing we need is more secrecy in Washington, but that is what we are getting. We have lazy politicians who do not want to start over because it is too hard, they do work for us you now, but that is what needs to be done. I highly recommend you call your representative and let them know where you stand and that you will remember their vote in November. However, I encourage you to say no to this bill, mostly because they keep changing it (!) and tell them to start over.

Subscribe to Annuity IQ's Feed

LS Blogs


Sphere: Related Content

What Happens When there is No More High Income Earners?

Posted by Ray on July 12, 2009 under Main, Politics | Be the First to Comment

We favor a public insurance plan simply because it is embarrassing for the most powerful country in the world, and the richest, supposedly, to have so many people go without health care. The numbers are skewed and the real uninsured number, for legal Americans, is somewhere in the area of 8 to 10 million people, perhaps as high as 15 million depending on who you listen to, but the ways our wonderful government are considering to fund it is just stupid.

They are considering another tax on the wealthiest of Americans to pay for this. This would be on top of the already promised tax increase Obama campaigned on. The problem that these idiots have not thought of is what happens when high income earners disappear or are substantially reduced? We know things are tough and we know or understand that many feel that the tax system does favor the rich, and it might to a certain degree, but we need the rich as much as they need us.

How about this, let’s just assume you make $250K a year and your tax rate increases to 40% not including state taxes. You will now be paying $100,000 to the government every year and if we add in state taxes you would be paying another 9% or another $23,500. That means you would be paying $135K a year in taxes and bringing home $116,500 a year.

Now if we use the same numbers but add another 5% tax to fund health care then the numbers really stink. In fact, you would be adding another $12,500 a year in taxes and we are not even including the AMT, alternative minimum tax, of 16%. Now include health insurance, retirement or 401k savings and other miscellaneous taxes and fees and you are bringing home next to nothing.

Where is there incentive to earn more money under this proposal? To be a good citizen and fund everyone else’s health insurance? Simply put, this is not fair and will cost jobs and reduce productivity.

Not only that, but what happens when inflation hits? When inflation first hits it is painful and in response we will then have wage inflation so people can live. This is typical during high inflationary times. Now, we will have much higher living costs and your income will increase, perhaps to as high as $250,000 a year and then you would be paying those taxes, does this sound fair now? Of course not.

If you think this could not happen you are wrong. It already happened in the late 70′s and has happened all around the world already. Your income will increase but its buying power is reduced to nothing during inflationary periods. This new tax or taxes do not take this into account.

Now, if inflation does not occur, which is unlikely, then people will not want to earn more money because there is no point. What would happen then? They would have to reduce the definition of “rich” down to a level where they can collect these taxes, perhaps to $150K a year or lower even. The unintended consequences is that many more people moving forward will have to pay more in taxes which is not good.

This is also something that cannot be undone as well. If you think the government can run insurance programs correctly, think again. I can point to Medicare and the National Flood Insurance program as 2 great examples of mismanagement, mis pricing and general stupidity.

Once they enact this, if they enact this, then how could they ever undo it? They can’t so you better be prepared to pay more in taxes and you should be careful what you wish for as you just might get it.

The great American ripoff is growing.

Subscribe to Annuity IQ's Feed

LS Blogs


Sphere: Related Content