Health Care

The health care debate rages on! It is all but certain that some kind of legislation will pass, but some of the more irksome proposals may not make the final cut. Pulling the government run option seems to be gaining momentum as our senators and representatives struggle to deal with the negative public opinion. The town hall meetings are turning violent in some cases and unruly in most as citizens are voicing their disapproval of such measures. Fox News ran an article not too long ago about violence at a town hall meeting in Florida...check it out.

Interestingly there is some debate in France about the enormous cost of their health care system. The Wall Street Journal ran an article about it not long ago. The article describes how France has struggled to keep up its standard of care as costs have risen. The problem is that the government cannot pay for it, but citizens now expect it as a right along with freedom of speech or religion. The result has been reduced services and locations leading to even longer lines and angry people. The whole article is available here.

One item that no one wants to touch is the impact of illegal immigrants on health care costs. There are lots of studies that show that illegal immigrants almost exclusively use emergency rooms for basic care, because under a 1980s law they cannot be refused treatment even if they cannot pay. This is driving up health care costs nation-wide. The political nightmare that is immigration has basically assured that not only will we pass some version of this monstrosity but will almost certainly not address one of the major drivers of health care costs - illegal immigrants.

It's hard to say for sure what will come out of all of this debate, but one thing is certain if we pass a bill anything close to what is sitting in Congress now it will cost trillions and our children and grandchildren will have to clean it up when the house of cards comes crashing down.