Tag: medical care

The Sovietization of Medical Care

Guest Post by Jeffrey A. Tucker

Soviet health care

 

My good friend professor Yuri Maltsev died this week and I’ve spent these mourning days recalling our conversations. He was a leading economist in the old Soviet Union, as the top advisor to Mikhail Gorbachev’s chief economist. He defected in 1989 before the Soviet Union fell apart. We became fast friends just after he landed in DC, and we spent a year or more together collaborating on many projects.

He was a font of amazing stories about how things really worked in the Soviet Union. Contrary to what US economists were claiming until the very end, it was not a rich country with mighty industrial achievements. It was a poor country where nothing worked. There were no replacement parts for most machines including tractors. He doubted that there would ever be a nuclear exchange simply because most Soviet workers knew that the bombs were all for show. If they ever dared press the button, they would most likely blow themselves up.

As the systems of command and control in those states fell apart (Russia, East Germany, Romania, Poland, Czechia, and so on), Yuri was in a position to advise the reforms. To his sadness and contrary to his advice, even though the parties and leaderships collapsed, there was almost no attempt to reform the health-care sectors of these countries. They left them all in place while focusing on things like heavy industry and technology sectors (and here banditry took over). Continue reading “The Sovietization of Medical Care”

LIES, LIES & OMG MORE LIES

“There are three types of lies — lies, damn lies, and statistics.” – Benjamin Disraeli

Every month the government apparatchiks at the Bureau of Lies and Scams (BLS) dutifully announces inflation is still running below 2%. Janet Yellen then gives a speech where she notes her concern inflation is too low and she needs to keep interest rates near zero to save humanity from the scourge of too low inflation. I don’t know how I could survive without 2% inflation reducing my purchasing power.

This week they reported year over year inflation of 1.9%. Just right to keep Janet from raising rates and keeping the stock market on track for new record highs. According to our beloved bureaucrats, after they have sliced, diced, massaged and manipulated the data, you’ve experienced annual inflation of 2.1% since 2000. If you believe that, I’ve got a great real estate deal for you in North Korea on the border with South Korea.

Continue reading “LIES, LIES & OMG MORE LIES”

The Equal Sign Can Be a Real Bitch

On a long enough timeline, consumption equals production.

Guest post by Robert Gore at Straight Line Logic

If one had to choose a single symbol to represent the apex of human thought and achievement, a strong candidate would be the equal sign: =. That sign says that the symbols and mathematical operations to the left of it are equal to the symbols and mathematical operations to the right. Furthermore, to retain equality, anything done to the left side of the equation must be done to the right side. The equation is the heart of elementary arithmetic, the most complex principals of mathematics and science and their real world applications, and everything in between. Only logical challenge can disprove an asserted equality, and no amount of wishing will turn an inequality into an equality. The equal sign represents humanity’s capacity for ruthlessly pristine logic.

Many people shun mathematics, science, and logic, seeking refuge in their antitheses. A good part of human intellectual history has been attempts to either ignore equalities or turn inequalities into equalities. Forgiving, sloppy, delusional illogic is usually collective. Every age has its particular refuges. Our age has rejected the mathematics of debt. What can logically not occur, a perpetual inequality—consumption greater than production— has become the foundation of the global economy. As the tagline for Zero Hedge notes: “On a long enough timeline the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.” In the same vein, on a long enough timeline, consumption equals production. Understand that equality, and the future comes into stark relief.

Continue reading “The Equal Sign Can Be a Real Bitch”

WHAT IS YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE INFLATION?

It is that time of year again. It’s open enrollment at my employer for health insurance options. I have the cheapest family coverage option – Keystone HMO. We go through all the red tape of primary care physicians, referrals, co-pays and deductibles. I consider myself lucky because my employer picks up about 80% of the total premium cost. They are the largest employer in Philadelphia, so they have major leverage in pricing negotiations with the health insurance companies. Despite this leverage, my premiums will be going up by 9.2% in the coming year. This is after a 12.1% increase last year. And this is just the premium side. Two years ago we had no individual or family deductibles. Now they are over $1,000. Therefore, my true annual cost is up by 20% per year.

Obamacare was passed in 2009. It immediately forced employers to cover kids up to the age of 26. Ever since my premiums have gone up by double digits every year, my co-pay went from $15 to $35, and they introduced deductibles. Obama sold Obamacare as reducing the average family insurance premiums by $2,500 per year. I guess I’m not from an average family.

Now the good part. The CPI is supposed to reflect the inflation rate of a dozens of living expenses. It weights Medical Care as only 7.7% of the total of your expenses. Hysterically, it weights Health Insurance as .753% of your total expenses. The ridiculousness of these weightings is astounding. A household with median income of $52,000 has medical care expenses accounting for at least 15% of their total expenses. Health insurance premiums alone are easily 8% or more. Even with my employer picking up 80% of the premiums, my portion is about 4% of my total expenses and my medical care expenses surpass 10% of my total expenses. The government is purposely under-weighting these expenses to falsify the inflation figures.

It gets even better. Your government keepers have the balls to tell you that health insurance costs actually FELL by 0.4% in the last 12 months, while medical care expenses only rose by 2.5%. The data from the beginning of 2010 (when Obamacare became law) to now is breathtaking in its falsity. According to the BLS here is the rate of inflation for these categories since January 2010:

Health Insurance – 12.6% (2.3% annual increase)

Medical Care – 15.9% (2.9% annual increase)

Do you think Humana, United Health, and Cigna are reaping massive profits with 2.3% annual premium increases? This data is an outright joke. My health insurance premiums are up by over 65% since 2010. My medical care expenses are up over 75% since 2010. I guess the government is comfortable with lying to the American people because they know they are apathetic, math challenged and distracted by their iGadgets.

What is your health insurance inflation?