HEALTH CARE IMPROVEMENTS
August 2, 2002 - WAR REPORT NUMBER 31-2002
The United States health care system is about to implode. Inflation is dormant while health care costs are skyrocketing. When the cost of health care reaches a critical mass soon, the system will implode. When that happens, the American people will demand that Congress do something.

The democrats will ring their hands in glee saying that the time for a plan similar to the Canadian Plan has arrived. This type of health care system is also known by several other names; a national health care plan, a single-payer system, and a government-run or universal health care system. The democrats seem to have a short memory because it was the new Clinton administration who brought universal health care to the surface in the 1990s, only to suffer defeat in 1994. There were many reasons and unintended consequences for their failure, but suffice to say that the American people would not buy into a massive government-run enterprise.

In the meantime, the democrats concluded that while they couldn't get the entire package, incrementalism was the way to go. Even this is failing because the end result is a socialistic-type of plan.

What sems to be evolving is a prepaid health care system. Congress will recognize that the present system encourages overutilization with increasing costs. The reason for the failing system is simple: you have unlimited demand on one side of the equation with limited resources on the other side. Congress ends up managing the finances of government programs and shifts the cost to the private sector costs. What the GOP needs to do is go back to our free markets principles - - put the consumer (the patient) back into the doctor-patient relationship position. It is the consumer who determines the cost of products, such as food, clothing, autos and high-tech equipment. What has happened is that consumers are using insurance to cover everything. What we need is insurance that few people use and use tax free money, like Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) or Flexible Savings Accounts (FSAs), to pay for routine medical services knowing that a low-cost, high-coverage insurance policy is backing us up to cover catastrophic illnesses or injuries.

Stay tuned! Why? Because I tell it like it is and it's your money. God Bless America.