The current Government Health Care program (Insurance, taxes and regulations) and its planned amendments do nothing to reduce the cost of Health Care. The current efforts, when fully executed, may lower the cost of Health Insurance slightly.
The focus of all this thrashing about concerning the costs of Health Insurance are badly misguided.
Health Care costs are what matters. Nothing is being done about Care costs and nothing is planned to be done.
Millions of people must travel hundreds of miles to get to very limited modern Health Care in the rural parts of many states, in the inland west and central states.
Health Care costs, once you account for taxes, regulations, restrictions, administration, patents on medicine and equipment, corruption and cronyism, are about Supply and Demand.
Good old supply and Demand market forces.
The past 7+ years much has been done to increase Demand. (ObamaCare) And if it can be believed, millions of more people have easier access to insurance coverage, and therefore millions more demanding much more care. (scarcity)
Scarcity of supply + (plus) rapidly increasing demand = (equals) unnecessarily high prices + (plus) ignorant subsidies and arcane unnecessary government regulations = (equals) the foolish mess we have now!
Little, if anything, has been done to increase supply:
No additional funding to educate more doctors per thousand people.
No increase in the rate of nurses trained per year, say an additional 10,000.
No increase in the number of Physicians Assistants, say 10,000 more annually.
No rapid increase of new Hospitals, expansions, (5,000) or branch clinics (10,000). In fact many have been restricted, closed or withdrawn from rural locations; or stripped of diagnostic capability.
If lower Health Care costs are desired, lower Health Insurance won’t do it. It just increases Demand.
What’s needed is increased Health care supply.
More facilities, many more doctors, more PA’s, more nurses, much more widespread modern diagnostic equipment, and modern communication for remote analysis. More widespread medical transportation and many more emergency medical response personnel.
With an overabundance of actual Medical Care, you will see dramatic declines in care costs.
And simple easy access to good modern Health Care for all our citizens, for less Federal tax money which is currently being wasted on subsidizing ridiculously over priced Health Insurance.
And maybe a lot less fraud and a lot fewer extremely wealthy doctors, hospitals, medical associations, and insurance companies.
If you must subsidize something, make it abundant Health Care.
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