A 10 year plan to fix Healthcare

I agree your plan would reduce prices. Look how medicare part D plan have increased the cost of medicare recipient's medications. I'm guessing medication prices have gone up 25% since medicare began paying for prescriptions.

As part of your plan I would like an ad campaign regarding the importance of good health behaviors. Many , many people have little regard for disease if they are feeling good. Perhaps they don't trust doctors and the healthcare system enough to pay money for a painless illness like diabetes and high blood pressure. These diseases are painless until you get your first complication, but then it is too late to cure.

Your plan requires personal responsiblity. Some people want the government to solve their problems like obesity.
crherrerahot@hotmail.com

like my plan to end Social Insecurity.
Year One: end all SS deductions from paychecks. All folks already receiving SS benefits will continue to receive them, with COLAs, until they are dead. This year, all folks age 53 and up who aren't yet receiving benefits will receive refunds on their 'investment' in SS, dollar for dollar, with interest from when those dollars were illegally taken from them by the federal government.
Year Two: Folks age 45 and up are now all refunded.
Year Three: Everybody over 35 has now received their check.
Year Four: By the end of year four, no more refunds will need to be sent out.

We have court juristictions where trial lawyers
typically file lawsuits that favor "victims"
because of a history of generous awards and high
lawyer shares.

Your plan WOULD help phase out Social Security with a minimal impact to current recipients.

And, it would be easier to implement than my planned phase-outs of Govt subsidized education & health care. Thats because it is all about returning money to taxpayers, and there isn't an elaborate service infrastructure involved.

Do you think that there is a Presidential candidate (on either side) who would take a position in favor of such phase-outs?

You hit the nail on the head with respect to personal responsibility!

Thanks for your comments.

Thanks for visiting and for your comments. Please feel free to visit often, and add to the discussion.

Tort reform would have to be an important part of any plan that addresses the costs of Medical Care. That belongs (rightly, IMO) on the legislative side - but will not gain any traction unless the voting public gets behind the issue.

I have become skeptical over the years of the efficacy of our jury system in the area of medical malpractice. I hasten to add that the rights of victims cannot be ignored, so there is a reasonable argument to be made on both sides.

However, it has become commonplace for glib trial lawyers (of the John Edwards ilk) to vilify doctors and providers and therefore coerce/manipulate juries into returning irresponsible verdicts.

I welcome further input on this subject ..

"Do you think that there is a Presidential candidate (on either side) who would take a position in favor of such phase-outs?"

I think a politician will take any position to get elected.
I just can't see that the government will ever give up any power/authority - Big Gov likes to decide what you should do with your money - whether its HealthCare, SS, Education, or the IRS.
'They' are fully committed to social engineering.

sheesh, it must be the rain - I do like the suggested phase-outs.

No, no politician will ever have the squirrel food to propose such a plan. I can already see the left wing TV ads saying that I'm gonna force Granny to eat dog food. I'm just wondering if we could force this phase out through the courts by showing that the whole Social Insecurity Program is not an authorized power of the federal government.

As for the courts...one of the first ways to reform them is to instate 'loser pays'. That would probably eliminate 30% of the lawsuits...most of the ones that the companies just settle on instead of fighting.

Speaking of courts and malpractice (nice segue, eh?), I've just made a posting at my Swamp about the Breck Girl and his health care plans. What a maroon.

if I were to hit some amazingly huuuuuge lottery, I know of one non-politician who'd run for office using my Social Insecurity Plan, the Fair Tax, Clean Bills Only or Veto, No Earmarks, and Border Security First as his platforms. Vote Crawfish for President!!!!!!!!!!

I just posted a new essay at the Island. Come on by and take a look. Shameless plug time, obviously!

how am I supposed to make a shameless blog plug if you've gone to every blog that I'd be pluggin' on, first? Yes, I've got one too...and y'all won't believe this one!

Marketing and timing!

... however, I believe that too many Americans want a "remote control" solution to the perceived healthcare crisis, which means passing the heavy lifting to the government. The notion of personal responsibility, for many, may as well be a message spoken in Swahili.

Of course, I'm not very optimistic these days.

.. how we got into trouble!

Our country was founded on the basis of freedom. A novel idea, this meant that people were free but Govt was bound. Americans were free to do anything EXCEPT those few actions that were legally proscribed (murder, robbery etc). On the other hand, Govt was bound to do ONLY that which it was permitted.

In economics, the above priniciples led to Capitalism. After all, unlike other economic systems, Capitalism isn't a rigid set of rules - it is what evolves in the marketplace when there is an ABSENCE of Govt control.

With its philosophical underpinnings of freedom, the American economy sputtered to life and then became the roaring engine that sustained the growth of a magnificent nation. Before long, it became the dominant economy in the world - not a big surprise, because other countries were mired in the muck of monarchy and savage cannibalism (aka socialism).

Somewhere along the line, the "meddlers" awoke in America. Mostly 2nd or 3rd generation Americans who inherited (rather than earned) their affluence, they felt culturally deprived, strangely envious of other cultures that had cultural legacy, but weak economies. They donned the mantle of "intellectuals" and embarked on the process of "improving" the barbaric conditions that Capitalism had imposed on America.

With altruism as a stage-prop American 'intellectuals' were able to convince many people that Capitalism was savage and unkind. In a way they were correct - Capitalism IS all of those things, but it works BECAUSE it is consistent with proclivities of free human beings.

The intellectuals used religion-inspired altruism to denigrate the very concept that had led to prosperity in America. The concept of "Remote control" was born, which allowed the less successful, guided by morally fraudulent intellectuals, to seek the transfer of wealth from their betters. By codifying their concepts into subjective law and taxation, they were able to legalize robbery - and call it justice.

.. tails, you lose!

In the previous post, I mentioned
altruism, as a stage-prop' but forgot to mention "Guilt".

This is the secret weapon of the Leftist's - and it is a one-two punch.

Socialism's biggest victory (albeit a Pyrrhic one) has been the voluntary acceptance of the producers that they should live for the sake of their parasites.

In America, many hardworking people who are not of the looter / moocher persuasion routinely vote for entitlements, or for politicians who support ever-expanding programs such as Universal Health Care, Public Education and Welfare.

To be a successful 'producer' in a competitive economy, one has to be reasonably smart. So why do so many get smart people get conned?

In the Leftist credo: Altruism is worshipped as an unlimited virtue & an un-earned Guilt is reserved for those who succeed. Unless the producers in our society reject BOTH those principles, they are easy prey for Leftist moochers.