The Cost of Health Care

Today I found a letter on my door saying rent on my apartment would increase 8% on January 1. This was a shock. When I signed the lease, I was told rent would go up no more than 5% a year.

I went to the office and confronted the director of our retirement community. She said she had no choice. Expenses have gone up dramatically. The excellent staff who cater to our every need have not had a raise in two years. With homeowners defaulting, the city is raising taxes on commercial property. “Utilities are sky high.”

But the biggest expense is providing health insurance for employees. Next year the premiums are going up by 22%.

Now there is a lot of talk in Washington about how much it would cost to provide “government run health care” for everyone. How about the cost of private health insurance? Our country provides the best health care in the World – for the rich. But middle-class Americans no longer can afford the skyrocketing cost of health insurance. They don’t take their kids to the doctor until they are critically ill.

If you want to know how a government-run health program might affect this country, look at Medicare. It is a government health program, and it works. Personally, I would rather give my money to the government in taxes to provide health care for all, rather than pay insurance companies whose overpaid executives fly around in private jets from their mansions in Connecticut to their $6,000.000 winter homes in Palm Beach.

The U.S. now spends 19% of our CNP on health care. European countries provide health care for all their citizens for 6% of their CNP. In many ways “socialized medicine” is better. Not only is everyone covered, but with good primary care, people do not put off going to the doctor until they are critically ill, which means less costly treatments in the long run.

Don’t believe those nasty tv commercials that ask you to write the senators to oppose government-run health care. They lie.