September 17, 2009

September 17, 2009

We went to a local church today to attend a town hall meeting with John McCain. Of course the main subject was health care. I was there more as a spectator to observe the controversy than for protest. Disappointingly the audience was pretty sedate.

Listening to the crowd and the media it is amazing how little people really know about this issue. There was more than one comment from the retiree crowd extolling how reasonably priced government provided Medicare is. They seem to think the token amount that is deducted from their Social Security is the cost of the insurance. I guess they don’t realize the vast majority of the burden is borne by payroll deductions on the working class.

Most of the talk was about insurance as if it was the source of the runaway medical costs. Insurance is mostly a zero sum game. It’s basically a cost sharing arrangement between all the clients. For one person to pay less, somebody else has to pay more. With new regulations, people with healthy lifestyles will surely support those who abuse their bodies. The young will subsidize us older folks. Medical insurance reform is long overdue. Coverage of preexisting conditions should be a requirement but only if you have had continuous insurance coverage. Otherwise we will all postpone buying a policy until we get sick. Mandatory insurance should be a requirement. Those who go without and then go to the Emergency room for care abuse the system. Too many opt to forego insurance in favor of soda pop, cell phones, Internet, video games, or cable TV driving up the cost for others.

As a country we need to address medical costs. There is a nationwide shortage of doctors. John McCain said we should attract more talent to the profession. That is not the answer; medical schools are not hurting for applicants. We need to expand the size of the schools and graduate more physicians (or encourage the immigration of foreign doctors). Tort Reform is also a requirement. Medicine is not an exact science and outrageous malpractice insurance is a national disgrace. The country would also be better off if most people had a high deductible policy that encouraged us to shop around for medical care.

What is the most alarming in this debate is how many people think putting government in charge of the largest segment of our economy will solve all the problems. What are they smoking?? Government is the antithesis of efficiency.

After listening to John McCain, it is clear he is not a flawless politician. But a big side benefit of moving to Arizona from Illinois is a huge upgrade in the quality of my senatorial representation.