National Health Care

Maggie Mahar works herself into a position where Taxpayers finally absorb some 74% of the total $2 trillion health care bill already. Some aspects of her addition may be a bit hazy, but she presents fairly salient points:

private insurers pick up just 30 percent of the tab -- and the money they lay out comes from the premiums paid by employees as well as employers. In other words, private sector employers pay less than 30 percent of the total. The remaining 19 percent of the $2 trillion total is covered by patients themselves (14 percent) and by the nonprofit philanthropy sector (5 percent). {still in the middle of her argument}

Arnold Kling counters the Mahar argument that Government avoids a National Health Care system because of the Real Cost of present Health Care, along with the Political fear of the power of the Special Interests. Arnold may be right, as I have not yet read his book advertised in the Post.

Why don't We adopt a National Health Care System?
We operate within a Private Health Care System where Doctors, Clinics, and Hospitals utilize professional health associations (dare We talk of Oligarchical collusion here) to set proscribed Product charges. We have a Pharm industry who possesses 2 Centuries of Clinical Research trials and Product Development studies, and who can conduct Lab trials for about $300/Hour utilizing the current method of Lab technicans; Companies who can reduce actual Production Costs of Drugs to mere Pennies per Dosage; still, who can claim Billions of Dollars in Research Costs due to current Tax law. We have Insurers who spend 40% of their total assessed premiums in Varification Costs, and 18% of those premiums in Profits for Management and Stockholders. We finally have understaffed Health facilities due to low Pay, and Business-proclaimed excessive Labor Costs.

What We need is a formal List of Procedurial Charges organized by Health Care Economists, not by the Recipients of that Pay. We need Research funded by a central organization who distributes allocation of Research funds based upon health need, not upon Profits-generating potential. We need Drug Costs to be generated by actual Production Costs, not by the principle of whatever the Market will pay. We need Government intervention which defined precisely what Procedures are paid for by Private Insurers, and what the largesse of that Payment will be. We need Government regulation of the staff requirements of health care facilities, and limitations on what the Average Costs of such Staff labor will be. What We need is a National Health Care System. lgl