The Mathematics of Health Care

A mind is a terrible thing to waste. How true. And my mind is loaded with so many useless thoughts there will have to be a lot of demolition before any serious construction can begin!

Sitting in front of my laptop this morning, suddenly, for reasons unknown, my mind produced a new mathematical formula:

PO = GR + MM - MF

As I pondered it a bit, I concluded this was not a complete formula but sufficient enough to state the facts concerning a subject which is before our eyes these days. Here is what it means:

PO = Public Option; a term on the news almost 24 hours a day yet most people do not understand what the public option is. Surely anything that is a public option must be good. WRONG!

GR = Government Run; yes, the public option represents a government run program. Simply stated: another large, inefficient bureaucracy. Anyone who has done battle with the Social Security Administration or the License Bureau Office know how poorly these groups are managed. Waste upon waste, red tape upon red tape, inefficient and costly. That leads me to the next term.

MM = My Money. Any "public option" or government run program requires money and guess where the government gets its money? Money I work long and hard hours to EARN they simply take and throw away in programs such as this. Now some will say only the VERY rich will pay but anyone who makes money sees their money disappear in government programs every time they receive a pay check. Does anyone REALLY believe another large government program such as health care can be funded only by the most wealthy? No, we will pay. The public option will require my money.

MF = My Freedom. Despite all the claims, once a public option comes into existence, it will be the death knell of private insurance choices. The government will establish the rules for health care and will either eliminate choices via regulation or via additional taxes against private insurance providers (some new penalty for the private plan which doesn't MEASURE up to government standards). Sooner or later the only plan anyone will have will be the "public option" (i.e., "single payer"; perhaps now call the public mandate; I call it socialized medicine). I loose my freedom to choose the health insurance plan I want. Isn't it amazing that the same people who say a woman may choose to have their unborn child killed do not want others to be free to choose their health insurance?

For OUR HEALTH, the government needs to stay away from health insurance. Let your Senators and Congressman know how you feel on this issue.

That's how I feel: PO = GR + MM - MF and that stinks!