Comment E-mail Print Bio Archives

The adage, "You get what you pay for," never seems more apropos to me than when politicians pontificate about how things should work -- and at the same time display their ignorance of the economic system that has been the engine of America's success, delivering the highest standard of living in the world for over 200 years.

The most recent example of this lack of understanding is highlighted by the heated debate over the proposed health care initiative that's currently working its way through Congress. The health care proposals that are now in the works are a graphic example of the limitations of thinking that hark back to the failure of the communist governments, namely, that it is possible to craft a system that codifies every conceivable alternative decision that might be available to consumers, with the added overlay of rules and regulations that lead or direct people to the decision that the central planners want. It didn't work then, and doesn't work now, and it won't work in the future.

Talking about his economic program, President Obama said (Friday, August 7), "I'm convinced that we can see a light at the end of the tunnel." However, what he fails to recognize is that the light at the other end of the tunnel is another train carrying the baby boomers that's headed right at him.

The ObamaCare solution to the nation's health care problem is to provide health care insurance for some 45 million additional people and presumably to help pay for it by cutting the Medicare and Medicaid fees that are paid to the doctors and hospitals.

However, we haven't heard much, if anything, about the impact of the baby boomers, who are rapidly becoming eligible for Medicare. There are a couple of interesting facts about this group: (1) Currently, there are an estimated 74 million baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964). That's around 25 percent of the total U.S. population, and (2) By 2006, approximately 330 people were turning 60 every hour, or 7,920 new seniors every day. Think about how these numbers factor into the demand for health care.

So far there hasn't been much discussion about the impact this group will have on the cost of Obama's proposed health care plan, in addition to the 45 million uninsured we are being told must be covered by expanding the nation's health care system. Assuming the 45 million number is real (I happen to believe it is highly inflated), a total of about 120 million new people will have to be covered by the nation's expanded the health care system.

One question that comes to mind is: Where are the doctors, nurses and other health care professionals who will care for everyone? ScienceDaily.com reported (April 25, 2008), "America's aging citizens are facing a health care workforce too small and unprepared to meet their needs...The current fragmented system of care desperately requires an increase in better-prepared personnel to sustain itself...The combination of the aging of the Baby Boom generation and the increase in life expectancy is going to yield a doubling of the numbers of older people. And it's important to understand that older people themselves account for a disproportionate amount of the utilization of health care resources."

>> Continued -- Page 1 2