Health Care? Let's Get to the Hard Stuff

Fox Business December 23, 2009

December 22, 2009 11:52 AM EST by Brian Sullivan

So it looks like a sharply divided Congress will pass the nearly $900 billion health care bill.

Yawn.

Why the shock, America? The President has made it his number one priority The Democrats have a clear majority. What they are doing has a nice populist ring: take money from some (insurers, medical device makers, successful small businesses, rich people, etc) and redistribute it to others (the poor who haven't signed up for Medicaid, younger singles who won't buy insurance, probably some illegals, etc). Regardless of how any Dem may privately feel, no one dare vote against it lest they be ruined by their own party (see Joe Lieberman). While passage of the bill will certainly mean something to some people, the number of people benefiting greatly is likely to be dwarfed by the number of people being impacted by higher costs, longer lines and reduced Medicare.

It's natural then that the bill getting passed is about as surprising as a fraternity voting to have more beer at parties.

So when does Washington actually take on the hard stuff?

Every year 1.3 million kids drop out of high school. And they drop out without care of repercussion despite ruining their own lives and being a huge drag on taxpayers. Princeton University estimates that every dropout costs the system $260,000 in health care, housing assistance, food stamps, jail, child care costs and other problems. If dropouts from the class of 2007 all stayed in school, the economy would benefit to the tune of $330 billion dollars in additional income over their lives. The Alliance for Excellent Education predicts that if the male graduation rate were to increase by just 5 percent America would save $5 billion per year in crime-related costs. Yet where is the big Presidential push to keep kids in school? Where are the repercussions? High schoolers are notorious for ignoring authority. They aren't swayed to stay in school by stats on how badly their lives will likely turn out to be if they don't graduate. Washington, it's time to come up with some real solutions to the dropout crisis. It can't continue without penalty.

By some estimates about 40 million Americans may be functionally illiterate. As many as 10 million may be completely unable to read or write. One in four teenagers don't know when the Civil War was fought. Yet education spending continues to rise. Between 1984 and 2004, per student expenditures rose 49 percent. America spends more per student than all but two countries in the world. And what do we have to show for it? Low relative test scores and millions of people who can't find their own state on a U.S. map. Perhaps a little help, more educational accountability and tougher standards, Washington? And maybe a little more by parents, too.

Health care costs are rising in large part because we are literally eating ourselves into the hospital. Six states can now brag that more than 30% of their adult residents are obese. And despite what many want to believe, it's not glandular, folks. No state had these levels of obesity stats even 25 years ago, so unless the American gene has altered dramatically in record time we can pretty much toss this theory and chalk it up to the simple fact that we are eating more and doing less. Obesity is the cause of many of the most common and costly medical problems we have such as diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, and even depression. A list of the best-selling drugs tells the story. We are getting bigger, sicker and costing everyone more. At some point someone in Washington will have the, ahem, guts to do what one county in Alabama and the state government in South Carolina want to do: have those who cost more, pay more. But until that time we will likely get the typical Washington: try to pay for the result without solving the cause.

And what about the other stuff that's not getting nearly as much play in Washington as it should?

There are more than 2.3 million people in jail in America.

Millions of Americans have lost their jobs in the last few years, many of those in industries such as manufacturing that are unlikely to come back to pre-recession levels.

The Dems feverishly trying to charge companies money to pay for the imminent crisis of global warming despite Newsweek proclaiming just 35 years ago that global cooling was surely going to send America back to the ice age.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

The good news is that eventually the wars and recession will end. The economy will recover and Americans will go back to work. While we need real solutions to solve the manufacturing crisis, time should heal many of our economic wounds.

The other costly problems, though - dropouts, poor education, obesity - will continue on, through boom and bust, as they for years, ignored by Washington. Ignored because holding people accountable for their own behavior or is either too hard or too politically risky for the free spenders in Congress. The easiest thing to do in Washington is to ignore what's sensitive, blame others, and throw other people's money at what's easy.

Wake me up when Washington decides to get tough and tackle the hard stuff.

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Comment

There are a number of frustrating things about liberal programs. No matter how often they fail,they are sacrosanct from being shut down. Indeed they are reenforced with more effort and money. As the results continue to worsen they are celebrated as having been successful. There is no way to kill these Medusa's off. Liberals will never admit the disasters of their policies.

I cannot afford health care and I am Medicare age. Did our government just decide a law about how I should spend my money or get penalized? My choices are mandatory health insurance or miniized Medicare benefits and out of pocket costs with a $500 billion cut in Medicare. People over 60 have paid into Medicare and SS all our lives and now we are penalized by the blind Democrats who do what Obama says without thinking. Penalty to aged and disabled whose next in this Nazi-type elimination?

Brian - I hear what you are saying. I had dinner last night with two liberal Dems (tis' the season). I love them, they adore me (we always agree to disagree!). We don't agree with the health bill! These are really smart, thoughtful people -without a public option - there is no "reform". Pharma and health insurance lobbies always have a tremendous influence. As far as addressing the dropout rate, obesity, etc...,GOOD LUCK!!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! Brian - the best...

Health Care? Let's Get to the Hard Stuff

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