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So instead of me just going to my doctor and negotiating how much he will charge me for a visit and paying him on the spot, like virtually all other goods and services I purchase every day, President Obama tells me that I must pay a third party intermediary (much more than I want to) to negotiate on my behalf ( big government liberals think we are all idiots and cannot do anything without their help). As a result, I have to shell out hundreds of dollars a month for something I don't need or want. On top of this, there are such things as co-pays and deductibles, leading to health insurance bills of over $5,000/year. My family doctor has about 2,500 patients/year visit him, so many that he can only spend about 7 minutes with each patient. Now if each one of those patients takes that $5,000/year and pays my doctor directly, he would have adjusted gross revenue of $12.5 million/year! However, he is working 60-70 hours/week and only making $140,000/year. Now, if each one of his patients simply slipped him $ 150/year, he would have $375,000. If they paid him $400/year, he would have a cool million. There would be tens of thousands of people clamoring to get into medical school and no Dr. shortages.
Fixing the problem is as easy as simply paying doctors directly. How did things get so hopelessly out of whack? I can answer that in 3 words: Big Government Liberals (BGLs for short). Virtually every out of whack economic problem we have in this country is the fault of BGL's trying to help us because we are too stupid to help ourselves. Social Security? Folks are too stupid to plan for themselves so the govt creates a giant Ponzi Scheme and bankrupts the country. Higher Education? The govt creates the student loan program and the costs of college soars and 22 year olds are saddled with $100,000 in debt. I can go on and on, but you get the picture.
During WWII, the govt under FDR enacted a wage and price freeze (another idiot BGL idea that never works). In order to get around the law, businesses started providing health insurance as a means to pay workers more. Guess what, it was tax deductible to the employer, but individual health insurance was not. Thus, the govt created an incredibly stupid and perverse dynamic that eliminated the incentive for a consumer to monitor his medical costs. 70 years later, we are still saddled with this idiocy. Want to reduce health care costs dramatically? Easy. Take the tax deduction away from employers and give it to the individual. Better yet, do away with the tax deduction all together and it will drive health care costs even lower, as it will not be subsidized via the tax code.
Folks, the reason I have such a grasp of economics is because I understand (liberals don't) that economics is ALL about human behavoir. Nobody cares about you or is going to make a better economic choice for you than you are. It ain't that difficult. It really is that simple.
I wish I could be humble, but...that would be no fun. Please note that in the course of writing this column, I just saved America. Thank you.
