OK, here is my question:
Years ago we created a program called Medicare (which you still have to
pay for when you start using it) and we also created one called Social
Security. We made it so that those
programs had all workers paying into it for 40 or 50 years so they could then
collect a small pension for approximately 5 or 10 years at the most before they
would be dead. That is the “actuarial”
planning data essentially. Now mind
you, both of those programs are scheduled to go completely broke in only a few
years from now. Given that information,
how on earth do we think we can structure a program where everyone below
a certain income gets free or subsidized health care (for much longer -birth
until death – not just a few retired years) provided by those who earn more and
have the money to pay for their own health plan and everyone else’s and
still have the program remain solvent.
Not likely to be a sustainable idea from what I’ve already seen the government
do with Medicare and Social Security! I
can just imagine somewhere down the line we’ll see the average (unsubsidized)
guy with a family of four paying $30,000 a year for health insurance -- or else
the government will just continue to borrow money from China until they come
over and get the deed for the good ‘ole USA.
Somehow, we need to figure another way that everyone can get
health care. This feels like a band-aid on a broken leg.
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