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« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2017, 04:32:26 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 11-1-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
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In particular, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, notes two facts26 that are worth highlighting:
First, it is the consensus of the relevant studies and health-policy experts that about half of all health-care spending in the U.S. is wasted. That is, if we spent half as much as we spend, we wouldn’t be worse off at all, so long as we spent the remaining money on what’s truly needed. In fact, we might be better off, and not just because an enormous dead weight would be lifted off the economy.
Second, not only has this fact not registered at all on the American public consciousness, but the vast majority of health-policy experts are in denial about it — not in the sense that they straightforwardly reject the non-controversial finding, but in the sense that they seem very reluctant to admit it or talk about it and certainly seem to behave as if it were not the case.
Perhaps even harder to swallow than the wasteful spending itself is that the most wasteful health care spending is also the most popular27.
First is the idea that everyone somehow is entitled to health care, and that makes for two popular entitlements: Medicare and employer-paid health insurance. (We use the word “entitlements” here to mean benefits mandated by law.) Medicare has been a disaster for decades, but more taxpayer money keeps being dumped into it, all while there is less value that comes out of it.
Then there is employer-paid health insurance. Since soon after World War II, employers have used health insurance as part of their benefits package to help attract workers. It’s certainly nice to have employer-paid health insurance, but Gobry correctly notes that it’s “subsidized by the biggest loophole in the tax code,” which really makes it more of an entitlement than a benefit.
Gobry argues, “Some conservatives resist that sort of language in the interest of a philosophical defense of private-property rights, the idea being that to call a tax break government spending presupposes that our money belongs to the government. I applaud and share the philosophical attachment to private-property rights, but we shouldn’t let it obscure the fact that macroeconomically, tax expenditures have many of the same effects as government spending, since they represent spending directed by the government rather than private individuals.”
Another popular yet wasteful area of health care spending — that no one wants to mention because they probably know someone personally in the profession — is doctors. Unfortunately, many within the medical profession put their own interests ahead of those they serve, much like politicians.
Of course most doctors aren’t at fault, but there are many who have used the medical profession and its positive image to create a legal structure that fills their pockets and prevents accountability. Among other things, there are countless procedures that could be performed by less skilled medical personnel but they legally can’t because they don’t have the title of “Doctor.”
Finally, there’s one more angle to look at the problem with our current health care system as we know it. No one knows the actual cost28 that each individual specifically imposes on the health care industry. Every person is different and everyone’s medical needs are different. Thus a one-size-fits-all scheme like ObamaCare was bound to fail.
In other words, most Americans are paying for health care that they don’t really need, not because they want to but because they must. If we could somehow determine how much health care for each individual actually costs, then individuals could choose to purchase the health care that they need.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that the current health care monstrosity is going to be fixed anytime soon. In fact, it’s likely to get worse before it gets better. Most people’s health insurance premiums are already expected to rise from 10-20% again this year, and with this fundamental problems of cost left unaddressed, it’s no wonder. If only our representatives had the courage to do something different.
MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST
ObamaCare’s Rolling Disaster31 — It’s enrollment season again, but this year’s sign-up period will be like no other before.
Antifa Colluding With Islamic State?6 — Recent FBI field report warns of American leftist radical groups meeting and learning from Islamic terrorists.
How Many Facebook Users Saw Russian Ads?32 — The Russians have been attempting to meddle in American elections for decades. This problem is not new.
BEST OF RIGHT OPINION
Star Parker: Free the Tax Code From Special Interests33
Gary Bauer: Antifa & ISIS34
Hans von Spakovsky: 7 Questions the DOJ Must Answer About Uranium One and Clinton Foundation35
Jonah Goldberg: Legalization Isn’t the Solution to the Opioid Crisis36
John Stossel: Communism Turns 10037
For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion38.
OPINION IN BRIEF
Star Parker: “According to American Enterprise Institute economist and blogger Mark Perry, some 70 percent of the federal budget, about $2.6 trillion, is transfer payments — funds recycled from one set of private citizens to others. Most of federal government spending is not about paying for functions of government, but for social engineering, meddling in our lives. According to the Tax Foundation, compliance with the U.S. tax code consumed, in 2016, 8.9 billion hours at a cost of $409 billion. Per Giving USA, total private charitable contributions in the U.S. in the same year, 2016, came to $390 billion. We spend more complying with the tax code than what we give in private charity. The $390 billion in charitable giving comes to about 2 percent of our GDP. The Biblical guideline for charity is the tithe, 10 percent. From this perspective, Americans sound stingy. Are we? No, I don’t think so. Much of our charitable spirit is swept up by government. According to the Congressional Budget Office, federal government spending on welfare and anti-poverty programs in 2016 was $750 billion. If we look at our welfare and anti-poverty spending as government-mandated compassion, it comes out to almost twice what we give in private charity. Or about 4 percent of GDP. Government welfare and anti-poverty spending together with private charity amounts to 6 percent of GDP, getting us closer to the 10 percent. … Wouldn’t we all be much better off if we stopped using Washington as a massive social-engineering, money-recycling machine, and got back to a simple tax code designed to finance the limited functions of government, as laid out in our Constitution?”
SHORT CUTS
Upright: “If you want to ‘drain the swamp,’ you have to start with the institutions themselves, not with the people. The problem isn’t having the worst people running the government; it’s having the worst forms of government drawing the worst people.” —Ben Shapiro
For the record: “When homicidal warriors for Allah are maiming and murdering non-Muslims according to the plain directives of the Quran — and spelling out their celebration of Islam-inspired violence word (ALLAHU) for word (AKBAR) — it is crazy and delusional to say their actions cannot be understood. Stop the whitewash. Stop the insanity. Jihad denial is suicidal.” —Michelle Malkin
Observations: “The overdose crisis is largely driven by the fact that once addicted to legal opioids, people seek out illegal ones — heroin, for example — to fend off the agony of withdrawal once they can’t get, or afford, any more pills. Last year, 64,000 Americans died from overdoses. Some 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam War.” —Jonah Goldberg
Braying Jenny: “We’ve had our fill of scares this year. Having President Trump and Republicans in control of Washington is far scarier than any ghoul or goblin.” —Nancy Pelosi
Race bait: “[NFL owners] have kind of a plantation mentality. The players are objectified in some sense.” —Jesse Jackson
And last… “I’d urge [Trump] to declare this coming Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017, a day of remembrance and order that flags be flown at half-staff on all federal buildings. Why? It will be the anniversary of what must have been a most traumatic day for mainstream media people and the political pundits they interviewed. I am not a psychologist; however, I did take several courses in psychology and sociology as an undergraduate. Thus, I have enough training to analyze the continuing trauma resulting from last year’s presidential election.” —Walter Williams
Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of Liberty, and for their families. We also humbly ask prayer for your Patriot team, that our mission would seed and encourage the spirit of Liberty in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Nate Jackson, Managing Editor
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