Obama is Bush part 3

Employee Healthcare Deductibles Are Becoming Punitive

This article is terrible. According to FBI statistics, the largest category of fraud is false medical claims (which represent roughly half of all convicted fraud cases). Medicare is by far the biggest victim of this fraud, and even by Medicare's own statements, they are only scratching the surface. Between unchecked fraud and the government's propensity to pay billions for a single airplane, it is mind boggling that anyone would even suggest health care costs will be fixed by government programs.

www.washingtonpost.com...
www.nytimes.com/2008/0...

A co-worker of mine who talks a little too loud on the phone was recently speaking with her doctor and checking for drug interactions by listing all the medication she is on. The woman is about 40 years old and yet she is on dozens of medications. And her situation is far from unique.

Drug companies spend millions advertising directly to consumers-- my TV is filled with ads for everything from Zocor to Prilosac to ambien to who knows what. You may think consumers have no control over health care spending -- but I doubt the greedy profit seeking drug companies are advertising just for fun. They know you are wrong.

We are a country that takes a pill for absolutely every tiny little pain. We take pills to help keep us awake and vibrant during the day, and more pills to help us sleep. Are kids are doped up on Ritalin, while adults have a wide array of anxiety medications. Cholesterol drugs. Depression drugs. Blood thinner / thickening drugs. Biotech and pharmaceutical company stocks have been winners for years. There isn't enough room on this blog to list all the surgeries Americans insist on having. We are also a nation of couch potatoes who complain endlessly about obesity -- oh wait, we have expensive pills for that too.

Get off your lazy butt and go exercise outside. You will burn off some energy (no more anxiety pills) making you able to sleep. The sunlight and activity will treat your depression naturally. You won't be as obese, and your eyes won't hurt as much from staring at the TV all day.

Our healthcare costs are off the charts because of the choices we all make in our daily lives. Short of mandatory morning exercise, there is little the government can do to fix the problem and a lot they are likely to do to make it worse (facilitating fraud). We choose to take dozens of medications when we make life/work choices (stress) and when we make TV / exercise choices.

Whatever Obama does or doesnt do, he isn't going to get anyone's lazy butt off the couch and away from the TV