Federal health insurance programs have a significant effect on the total health
care industry which is fast becoming unaffordable to
almost everyone except the poor.
Congress
passed legislation in 1965 establishing the
Medicare
and the Medicaid
programs as Title XVIII and Title XIX of the Social Security Act. On
July 30, 1965,
as part of his 'War On Poverty',
President Lyndon Johnson signed this expansion into law. Said
President Johnson, " During your working years, the
people of America--you--will contribute through the social security program a
small amount each payday for hospital insurance protection. For example, the
average worker in 1966 will contribute about $1.50 per month. The employer will
contribute a similar amount. And this will provide the funds to pay up to 90
days of hospital care for each illness, plus diagnostic care, and up to 100 home
health visits after you are 65. And beginning in 1967, you will also be covered
for up to 100 days of care in a skilled nursing home after a period of hospital
care.
And under a separate plan, when you are 65--that the
Congress originated itself, in its own good judgment--you may be covered for
medical and surgical fees whether you are in or out of the hospital. You will
pay $3 per month after you are 65 and your Government will contribute an equal
amount."
Medicare for the poor aged is an extension of the original Social Security
Act and financed much like the Trust Fund. Like the
Trust Fund it has no surplus, no savings, no assets, only federal IOUs.
Medicaid expenditures for poor adults and children, financed directly by the treasury,
are largely
out of control and demand an ever expanding part of government budgets and the
economy.
Medicare and Medicaid are administered by the Health Care Financing Administration.Like the Social Security retirement program, both
medical programs are flirting with financial catastrophe.
Trends 1965 - 2000
The
United States population increased by about 40% to 280 million.
The
value of the dollar decreased. What you could buy for $1 in 1965 would have cost
$5.37 in 2000 due to inflation Stated another way, if you had saved $5.37 in
1965 it would have been worth only $1 in 2000. Your savings would have lost more
than 80% of their value.
During the same
period health
care expenditures
increased from $41 billion to about $1,300 billion. On a per capita basis, it
went from $205 to $4637. Health care, as a percent of the Gross Domestic
Product, went from 5.2 to 13.3. The U.S. spent $2.0 trillion on health care, or $6,697 per person, in 2005.
Forecast Summary
National health expenditures are projected to reach over $4 trillion in 2015 when it will
constitute approximately 20.0 percent of GDP compared to its 2000 level of 13.8
percent.
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/proj2005.pdf
Yet, what do we get from our politicians while Rome burns?
More regulation of the industry and more mandates to include more care and
benefits for more people under more circumstances. In other words, the health care industry increasingly resembles
universal government health insurance which itself resembles universal
government old age insurance - Social Security after which it is modeled.
Government regulated health care is just another promise
that can not come true. The costs are not sustainable. Instead of fewer
people with no health insurance, we are left with many more with no health
insurance. What is the value of regulating
towards financial and health care disaster? Who gets the benefits if more is
spent but less can be purchased? And ultimately, who gets the benefits and
who will pay the price
when markets are manipulated with government controls?
How
can more expensive health care be in the public interest?
Whose interests
are served instead of the public interest?
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