Health Care

I caught the last part of Glenn Beck on FOX News tonight while changing clothes after work. I usually don't get home early enough. But I digress. He had a doctor who was charging uninsured patients a flat $76/month. They could visit as often as required for that fee, but the state got involved. To keep practicing medicine he now also has to charge an additional $33 per visit if the patient is sick. He doesn't want to charge the $33 fee, but he's required to do it by the state. Yep, government sure looks out for The People.

When asked about health care costs the doctor stated something I've suspected for a long time. He estimates that only about 30% of the money spent on health care is actually used for medical care of people. 70% goes to bureaucracy. If government takes over health care does anyone actually think it will get better? Not me folks.

Memory is a bit fuzzy, but if I recall correctly there was a time in my lifetime when the Fed froze wages nation wide. So in order to entice new employees companies started offering better benefits instead of direct pay. People started going to the doctor more often, and having more tests because they were insulated from the actual costs. That was the beginning of skyrocketing health care costs. Basically that means that the uninsured, and those with less benefits end up getting shafted because the autoworkers, etc., get great benefits.

All that's changing now. The news has reported that Delphi retired salary employees have been cut off. Yep, no pension or benefits. Horrible management decisions and not enough working employees to pay for the retired employees. I don't know who was the most stupid, management or the unions. I guess it doesn't matter. Between the 2, they've managed to cripple, if not out right kill the U.S. auto industry.