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I’m all for healthcare reform – Just not the direction we seem to be headed.

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Poor government policymaking is the root cause of both our economic and healthcare troubles. Free markets are the best solution. Free markets work better than government-dominated systems.

Even if the government’s ideas are well-intentioned, when put into practice, they only make things worse. Government interventions never help.

We need to stop blindly allowing the government to overspend and dig us into a deeper hole. Capitalism will lead us out of this mess.

We’re told people want more healthcare. Well, Anywhere else in our economy, if people want more of something it’s seen as an opportunity. People want more technology, companies (Microsoft, Apple, Google, etc) pursue the opportunity. If people wanted more cars, Detroit would be jumping for joy.

It’s the way we pay for our healthcare. There’s no transparency in costs. No true free enterprise exists in the current system. When is the last time you saw prices listed? Why wouldn’t you want (demand) to know the true cost of your prescription, Dr. visit or surgical procedure? Is it because you think you aren’t paying for it. Or your ‘cost’ is your deductable &/or co-pay. Today, in healthcare you’re ‘strange’ if you ask what things really cost!

What’s more basic than healthcare? How about food! Do we have a food crisis in America? Far from it. If the gov’t did to food, what they’ve done to healthcare, there would be a food crisis. Just ask Russia about this one! The difference is, we know what food costs us, we don’t know what healthcare costs us.

Look at Lasik surgery. The real cost has gone down the last 10 yrs… because you pay for it. So those Dr’s know they have to satisfy …you!

Cosmetic surgery, last 15 yrs demand has increased 600%. But costs haven’t inflated like other areas of healthcare…because you know the true costs.

So…before the gov’t ‘takes over’ healthcare why don’t they just de-regulate it! Seems to have worked pretty well for airline travelers. Prices seem to keep going lower and lower. Here’s a good start:

1. Allow Competitive Insurance shopping nationwide – A family in NJ pays about $15, 000 – $17,000 for health ins. Same family in Pa. pays about $7,000, in Wis $5,000.

If you need a new car and find a great deal on one in Tennessee, you can buy it there, even if you live in a different state, without breaking any laws…not so with health insurance. Just allow me to comparison shop nationwide why don’t you.

2. Tax deduction for individuals not just companies. If you don’t like your employers health plan, go shop for your own plan. You make the choice, not your employer or the Gov’t! And you get the same tax break companies do. Seems only fair to me.

3. Allow small businesses (who provide the majority of employment in America) to pool together so they can get attractive health ins. rates like the big companies do.

4. Sensible Tort reform – Why not something like work comp system. Panel of experts decide if your claim is valid and the amount you’re paid…which happens immediately. No need for a lawyer or to give up 33% (or more) of your claim. Not happy with the panel’s decision… then go get yourself a lawyer.

5. Strengthen & encourage Health Savings accounts.

6. All elected officials use same healthcare system everyone else does! Seems crazy to me that people not affected by their own decisions/choices are allowed to tell the rest of us what’s best for us! Well…if it’s not good enough for them, why should I think it’s good for me??? Note: I got Lasik done, only after seeing numerous eye surgeons having the procedure done on themselves!

Turning scarcities into abundance, that’s what capitalism and the American free enterprise system is all about! Look at cell phones 15 yrs ago. They were the size of a shoebox, clunky, expensive. Today – Cheap, 4 billion in use, people in Haiti & India even have them.

Where do you think cell phones would be today if the Gov’t was in charge?

Automobiles, 200 yrs ago, they were only for the rich. Cost (today dollars) $200,000. Then Henry Ford figured out how to make them affordable for everyone…(and profited handsomely).

Why can’t we get (demand) the same from healthcare? True free markets, true entrepreneurs will figure out if people want more healthcare. It will be supplied.

If you want a private room so you can have some privacy and not listen to your roommates snoring, belching etc. someone (just like Henry Ford) will figure out a way to do it…affordably. How…because they’ll know that’s what you want and they’ll figure out a way to do it.

That’s the whole essence of capitalism, meeting the needs and wants of other people.

This is the American way…not the gov’t cramming something down our throats!

Tags: brian Fricke, certified financial planner, finance, financial advisor, Financial Management Concepts, financial planner, Financial planning, health care, health care reform, retirement, retirement planning