I.

Two people get a splinter.  Not too severe but requiring immediate attention.

The first of our individuals, John has “good” insurance.  John, no longer living near his Mom, decides it requires a medical visit.  The large sliver is removed and the doctor is able to bill the insurance company $300.  The doctor also uses $50 worth of overpriced medical equipment.

The second individual, without access to his Mom, has however, found a even better skilled wife.  She quickly performed the exact same procedure as the doctor, albiet without the commute and wait for the doctor.  Likewise, the insurance company realized monetary benefits by not having to pay the doctor.

Apply this same methodology to all medical care and we quickly conclude that the current system is inefficient for most parties, save doctors and pharmaceuticals.

A minor sprained ankle that can be treated without either a doctors visit, expensive drugs and hours waiting to see a doctor and the huge bill for someone, is a benefit to everyone.

The only way for medical care to be both good and universally available to is deregulate medical practices and buy less drugs.  Logically, the only way to save money is to spend less somewhere.  You can’t be against rationing while simultaneously being against rising costs, it’s irrational.

II.

Insurances company do not need to be regulated, they just need to lose their anti-trust exemption.  Either we regulate or we don’t.  Allowing a monopoly is the worst kind of regulation.   There is no reason a medical practice and hospital affiliation shouldn’t offer it’s own “in-network” insurance.  The government can cover all “out-of-network” costs if you happen to be traveling.

III.

Another simple step is to allow all registered nurses to become sole operators offering house calls.  Even if they just became commissioned reps of a doctors office.   How much would you pay to have a trusted registered nurse doing house calls?  As a lay person, I have learned that Nurses are far better performing normally required medical service.

Avoiding exposure to a hospital or even a doctors office was lost when house calls became inefficient.

Finally, If you want to know wether the eventual bill is all corporate giveaway, check the stock market.  So long as Big Pharm and Insurance Cos continue to see stock gains we know the Healthcare bill is just corporate welfare masquerading as populism.

As good as “You Lie” but actually the truth and we won’t be seeing an apology on this one.

To add  a little more gravitas to Congressman Grayson, he is also a champion for Federal Reserve accountability.   He is quickly becoming the Democratic answer to Texas Republican Ron Paul.

Tolstoy would say that Rep. Wilsons outburst (scroll down for video)was an inevitable result of this summer.   Ironic that Congressman Wilson may have uttered the one tipping remark that will save healthcare for the President.

Now onto the details.  Whatever is finally voted for, I don’t imagine the status quo is where we will end up.

How many of the 46 million uninsured have been postponing needed medical procedures??

Lets assume 10 percent of the newly insured require immediate outlay from whomever is the insurer.  Remember that a large portion of the uninsured are in this situation because they were dropped from the previous insurer due to recision or an exclusion based on a pre-existing condition.

Why don’t the private companies want the Government taking these high-risk, immediately cash negative, individuals?  My guess is that are making such an obscene amount of money that, rather then fearing an ultra competitive public plan, they actually fear what may be revealed by the open books of a public plan.

How many employees are held “Job” hostage at their current employer?  Are you?

The current plans seeming to be leaning at both healthcare transportability and eliminating the pre-existing exclusion for new enrollees.  My guess is somewhere between 5% and 25% of the corporate workforce is currently coerced by healthcare from changing jobs.  This outcome better be on the radar of large corporations like McDonalds and Starbucks.   Currently, they outcompete mom and pops for talent just because they offer healthcare.  At the least, employees will have removed one of the swords hanging over their heads at a crappy job.

Who loses if this passes, and haven’t we learned there’s no free lunch?

The stocks of Insurance Companies, Pharmacuticals, in fact, all healthcare related companies are up big time.  The doctors aren’t marching down fifth avenue so they must think they’ll get paid.  And, supposedly, this is all going to end with more people getting healthcare, and cheaper.

Some can argue that it’s because investors and doctors all think reform is doomed.  As an experienced investor and trader (and cynic), maybe the opposite is true.

Perhaps the doctors are getting squeezed now and they actually want reform.  Perhaps the stock investing class is running a classic pump and dump with the healthcare sector.

It won’t surprise me if we see healthcare reform as the scapegoat for a W recovery, no recovery, a re-test of the March ‘09 stock market lows, continued decline in housing or any other calamity.

Be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy.

Be pessimistic when others are optimistic and optimistic when others are pessimistic.

— Tom Bergman

Stewart v. Kristol

Of course we all know that our troops don’t really get the best medical care.

A)  American’s don’t want a public healthcare plan.

B)  A public health care plan will force out private insurers.

So we don’t want a public option but if it’s offered we’ll all select it??

A)  American’s want their big SUV’s and not fuel-efficient econoboxes.

B)  GM went out of business because it was making cars American’s didn’t want.

So American’s want big SUV’s that GM made but won’t anymore.

A)  Bank of America is Too Big to Fail

B) Bank of America is forced to buy the biggest mortgage lender, Countrywide, and the biggest retail broker, Merrill Lynch.

So stress tests now prove that new bigger Bank of America will no longer fail nor need to be disassembled.

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”  (guess the speaker)

We all know the meme, “Government wants to take over health care and get between you and your doctor”, and we all know it’s not that simple.  In fact the UK system is quite simple.  They have guaranteed healthcare for all but you can still get health insurance if you are dissatisfied will the governments system.

Why Both?

In the United Kingdom, both emergency care and standard physician services are guaranteed for all.  Then why do they still have Health Insurance?

There is a grain of truth to the threats of long waiting times for medical procedures under government run health insurance and it typically doesn’t cover “elective” procedures.  This is where health insurance fills in for the governments deficiencies.

For example, an athletic sixty year-old might purchase insurance to cover procedures like hip replacement or optical laser surgery that might be neglected in a government insurance plan.  We can all be sure that the insurance companies will be quite adept at pointing out these gaps in coverage.

Why haven’t we heard this argument from the Dems?  Either they think its a nuance too complicated for our feeble brains to understand or (much worse) they think we might.