[this week and last week, author Dan Taylor is our guest blogger; these are some of his past writings]
Monday, April 16, 2007
What Do You Get When You Combine......
What do you get when you combine Health Savings Accounts, the Privatization of Social Security, the decline of the traditional retirement plan and Arnold in California?
A National Health Care Program...that's what. Here's what Arnold knows as the president of the world's 7th largest econonomy: When you have 30% of the population who cannot access basic health care and housing for a long period of time what you get is cities that start to burn...slowly at first but more rapidly. Check out Buenos Aires, Santiago, Los Angeles, etc. for past reference.
Here's how I think it works down the road. It will more than likely be a payroll tax or a consumption tax that starts out small and gradually gets bigger as more exceptions are made to the program. Boomers and their children, at least the affluent ones probably get indexed out on an income or asset basis over time. The early sales pitch will be that everyone will now have access to healthcare shared by everyone's contribution. What you really end up with is a really bad version of Canada's much heralded National Health Care Program. It's not that Canada has a bad program. It has a good one if you have poor vision, a broken leg, or a sinus headache. It's not so great if you have cancer, liver failure, or need a heart transplant. In fact, at last count there were more MRI machines in Atlanta than in all of Canada. But....to the point: It's not that Canada tells you 'NO'. It just never tells you 'When'.
What this means is not greater opportunities for you and your parents. What it means is longer waiting lines, different doctors each time, lowest common denominator diagnostics, and a feeling that you just stepped into the back of some bus forever. Here's the real opportunity: New and different forms of individualized health delivery and wellness strategies on a fee for service basis. Think of this new system doing to health care what the internet did for the Post Office: Making it embarassed about raising its rates for doing less and less.
Call Arnold. Tell him not to come back with this idea.
Posted by Dan Taylor
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