Projected Rx Drug Bill Cost $827 Billion
The Rx drug bill for seniors was projected to cost $400 Billion when it was passed by our representatives. A year after it was passed, the costs were reviewed and then projected to cost $540 Billion. Many politicians knew they original number was low balled in order to gain passage. Now the paper reports our politicians saying it is now over $825 Billion.
A few days ago the paper listed the U.S. as having a third world infant mortality rate. Is it no wonder with how much of our healthcare resources we devote to those who are not infants? Every worker knows how much they contribute towards Medicare from each paycheck. Double this and you get the true cost to the worker. Then add in another 40% for cost shifting from Medicare to others because Medicare only reimburses about 70 to 75% of costs so health providers charges everyone else more.
The birth rate per woman has been dropping steadily for five decades. It now stands at 2.1 births per woman. This produces what is referred to as zero population growth where a woman has enough offspring to replace both partners when they die. With a low birth rate, the average age of the U.S. population has been increasing steadily. The average age is no longer being diluted by more births (a low age average in with high age). As we age or get older, we tend to use more healthcare. We therefore have a compound growth factor for healthcare costs in the U.S. We have increased costs because we are aging, cost shifting, new treatments and inflation. The result is nearly double digit increases.
U.S. healthcare is more like a lottery. If you live to age 65 you will be covered. The problem is everyone under age 65 is paying for those over age 65 and sacrificing their own healthcare because of it. Companies are cutting or eliminating healthcare coverage. The biggest kick in the pants is that Medicare is expected to be unable to pay benefits in full past 2018. All those under age 53 are paying into Medicare, but by the time they reach age 65, Medicare will not be able to cover their costs. What are our representatives doing about this? They expanded coverage!
posted by William Larsen @ 12:23 PM
2 Comments:
Sue the JG for libel?! Seriously man you need understand how campaigns work. Pissing off the media when you don't have a great deal of money? Not a super-good idea.
A candidacy that's trying to run on the cheap needs all the free press it can get, which means making nice. If you want to be known as the single-issue whacko who's suing the newspaper, keep this up. But if you want people (other than the Bill O'Reilly lovin' Fox News watchers in the house) to vote for you work on soundbyting your message so you know what they're going to write, and for God's sake don't waste your time nitpicking.
The Journal Gazette visited my web site a number of times. They opened up several files that identified my issues. Clearly I have more than one issue, yet they will not cover the news. In 2002, the JG did not want to listen to my other issues, but were very interested in why my position on Social Security was so radical. In 2004 the JG invited me for a face to face interview, but it was very apparent they did not wish to listen to my issues and it was obvious they did not read my multi-page issue document I gave them. Again the JG provide their readers with incorrect information.
The JG did not ask me any questions this year and from what I can tell has no intention to do so in the future. Tracy Warner deliberately wrote that I was a one-issue candidate. This is a lie and he knows it. This has damaged my reputation. They have caused harm and they did it deliberately.
In Allen County even after such negative statements by Sylvia Smith and Tracy Warner, my support grew by 85%. So what should I draw from this? I believe the truth is getting out. Congress has no idea how to problems dealing with deficits, energy, identity theft, illegal immigration, let alone the two largest problems. Social Security according to the trustees is now set to be unable to pay scheduled benefits past 2040, a year sooner. Medicare’s date has moved two years forward to 2018. How old are you? If you are under age 53, how do you feel about paying Medicare taxes for a program that will not be able to pay full benefits? If you are under age 33, how do you feel about paying 10.6% in payroll taxes to SS-OASI for less than full benefits?
The media reports what they want you to know and they do not do it very accurately. As for sound bites, how do you know I did not have sound bites for Defense, identity theft, energy, Iraq, healthcare and more? I did have sound bites, but they (JG) did not use them. They focused solely on social security while I spoke about other issues.
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