Get the Government Out of Healthcare
Obamacare took a flawed healthcare system that was on life support and pulled the plug. The Democrats did what the Democrats do best; they created an unsustainable system that uses taxpayer funds to give free healthcare to those who don’t work or work very little. Of course, the middle class not only pays the taxes, but they also cover the gap between the taxpayer provided kickbacks and the actual costs of the healthcare.
I recently had a conversation with someone who indentified as liberal but he was open for discussion and actually listened to my points. There’s all kinds of angles to the healthcare issue and the causes of the “price increases” related to Obamacare, but there’s nothing affordable about the Affordable Care Act (ACA). First we discsussed the increase in healthcare prices due to the Big Beautiful Bill (now being fought in the context of the “clean” continuing resolution). First of all, the insurance premiums aren’t going up, it’s just that the government (taxpayers) aren’t footing a giant slice of the bill. So what are people supposed to do if no one can afford the premiums he asked? The answer goes back even further than Reagans “government is the problem” quote although government IS the problem. I asked what would Milt Friedman say? I believe he would suggest we invision a governmnet that is completely out of the healthcare industry. Then let’s put ourselves in the postion of someone who provides healthcare.
That person would not offer a product that the consumer cannot afford. The healthcare industry would develop a product that people could afford. The onus would be on the healthcare providers to do so. I might at this point add that people who don’t work won’t be able to afford any healthcare package that is offered, just like they can’t afford food without government (taxpayer) money. People who don’t have income can’t afford a long list of goods and services, healthcare is among them. Healthcare has been an important part of employer provided benefits since the wage freeze of 1942. Employers have realized that offering good pay and benefit packages attracts better qualified and more reliable employees. Employer based healthcare was in large part successful because the larger the risk pool, the more solvent the healthcare program was. Huge, fortune 500 companies still provide excellent coverage but middle sized companies find themselves hard pressed to keep up with skyrocketing costs, and those cost increases are 100% due to government interference with the free market.
The government subsidies associated with Obamacare do not cover the costs of the programs, those extra costs are passed on to the general public, increasing the premiums, including those paid by employers. They set it up perfectly, because employers (yes, those heartless employers) are now blamed for cutting benefits they can no longer afford to pay. I’d be derelict in my duties if I didn’t mention that medical assistance programs (Wisconsin’s program is called BadgerCare) have crowded out many employer based programs because low wage earners qualify for BadgerCare so employers do not need to offer the benefit. NOTE: These are all nice healthcare talking points for the Thanksgiving get together with your Aunt Karen.
As mentioned above, Ronald Reagan said something to the effect that government is not the solution to our problems, government IS the problem. In hindsight he may have had a premonition regarding Obamacare. The government cannot make health insurance affordable without either reducing the regulations which are plentiful. NOTE: It may not be a good idea to allow barbers to let some blood out. Or we could increase the supply of healthcare. NOTE: If there is a legitimate effort to increase the supply of healthcare, mainly doctors and nurses, they are doing it very quietly because I have not heard of any such efforts. One effort could be to provide funding for any QUALIFIED student to pursue a career in healthcare. NOTE: Again, this is where the government will screw it up. The term qualified pertains to students who have attained the basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills to successfully complete a collegiate medical program. However, we all know they just can’t say NO to DEI (Didn’t Earn It!)
Employer provided healthcare. This was not a perfect system by any means, but large employers with hundreds or thousands of employees were able to “pool” their workers so that while many were paying in, only a small percentage needed extensive care. Hence, many were paying in, and few were paying out. The term “insurance” should explain that concept but somehow it that concept has gotten lost. In group insurance, every employee must be given the opportunity to get the insurance and certain “enrollment” periods made sure that people didn’t wait until they got sick before signing up. The same with pre-existing conditions. You can’t get car insurance AFTER the crash and expect the damage to be covered. The problem that remains is that smaller employers and small business owners are priced out of the market and simply can’t afford the premiums.
The real healthcare crisis is in the inner cities. People who have no jobs, no family structure, no education and no marketable work skills flood the emergency rooms of local hospitals. Hospitals are actually closing in the inner cities. Like all Democrat lefty liberal solutions, the solution to this was free healthcare under the ridiculous label of “The Affordable Care Act”. It has a nice ring to it, don’t you agree? The solution is never to heal the broken family structure, requiring students to read and write and do basic math and actually WORK. NOTE: I have a theory that getting a job can be a nice way to develop “work” skills, but maybe that’s just my privilege talking.
FoodShare- We may be in for a real crisis in very short order here. If those government provided food stamp debit cards ever really do run out for a lengthy period of time, things will get very interesting and very dangerous very quickly. The chips and soda companies will be the big losers. There were 41,700,000 people on food stamps in 2024. NOTE: The program is actually called The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), but the term nutrition is there just for show, since every attempt to remove chips, soda and other items with no nutritional value is met with the usual “the sky is falling” mantra that our spineless politicians are so terrified of. SNAP in Wisconsin is called FoodShare, read the informational paper here. SNAP should not be confused with The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) which is not really temporary. Read the TANF informational paper here. So, we have SNAP (never mind the nutritional part) that provides free soda and chips and as much junk food as people can consume. And then we have taxpayer provided healthcare for the out of shape fatties. Not everyone buys soda and chips with their SNAP benefits, some sell them for drug money. And for that we have free drug programs. NOTE: For those of you looking for the links to the papers mentioned above, go to WCDigest.com and use the electronic version of the paper.
From Facebook – The Big Bad Stupid Bunny!
Bill’s Sunday Rant: For years we had to tolerate the anti-American antics of new “woke” corporate world. This includes the NFL which is just hell-bent on promoting division and hatred while pretending that they are trying to “heal” America’s “racial wounds”. Wounds that they themselves keep alive while the rest of us have long since moved on from and have embraced MLK’s dream of judging people by the content of their individual character. The NFL hasn’t had a family friendly half-time show in a decade. Why is that? Because if they don’t actually hate America, they certainly hate decent law-abiding Christians with family values. So, let’s talk about this piece of crap Big Bad Stupid Bunny (BBSB). A man who dances around in a dress. BBSB is so far into the destruction of America that he felt the need to cancel an American tour because of ICE! Really? And I’m a racist because I don’t want to watch his worthless ass on TV? The mantra now is that the Turning Point crowd is racist. We want an American singer they claim. Well, we could spend all day listing all the “American” singers that we wouldn’t want to watch either. What really gets them is that Turning Point is going to take away millions of viewers who would rather watch Kid Rock (who would have ever imagined!). So, ask your libtard friends and relatives at Thanksgiving if they think you are racist because you’re not going to watch the Big Bad Stupid Bunny. Ask if you are REQUIRED to watch his stupid ass. Ask them why you’re not allowed to watch something that you’d rather watch. Then remind them that THEY are racist because they don’t support Donald Trump. Remind them that this is America and Turning Point is engaging in what can only be labeled as capitalism. Turning Point identified an underserved market (people with common decency) and is offering a product developed for them. There are so many racist people involved in the Big Bad Stupid Bunny debate, and we ALL know who they are don’t we?
Maps – Its infuriating how inept the Republicans have been regarding the gerrymandering process and “equal” representation altogether. It’s like they just lay down and surrender at every turn. They allowed the Democrats to use every trick in the book to stack the deck. We need to remind ourselves that Democrats in Texas went to Illinois to protest gerrymandering.
Tariffs Revisited
Everyone got it wrong, It’s not that hard to understand. Do people just hate trump or are they really incapable of understanding that if we import products, we also have to export products? Trump’s tariffs might add a few hiccups on the way, but it’s time we toughen up!!! I’m a free trade guy! But free trade goes both ways.
We all pay for Milwaukee’s Incompetent Government.
- Shared revenue – Milwaukee gets an exorbitant amount of the shared revenue. The per capita amounts demonstrate just how one-sided those payments are.
- Schools – Milwaukee Schools get $9,893 for K-8 students and $12,387 for 9-12 students. However, the state aid average is much lower at $7650. Meanwhile Milwaukee (and similar districts like Beloit) have miserable track records of educating kids. NOTE: With federal aid and the enormous property tax levies due to the referendums, the per pupil funding at MPS is $23,929. WOW!!!
- Crime – Milwaukee’s violent crime rate is five times greater than the rest of the state. Not only do criminals endanger law abiding citizens attending events in Milwaukee, but the crime spills over to neighboring communities. The Corrections portion of the past budget was just shy of $4 billion, a 13.4% increase. In addition, adjoining counties like Waukesha are experiencing a huge increase in court costs associated with criminals who reside in Milwaukee committing crimes in Waukesha County.
- Welfare – Milwaukee residents are twice as likely to receive SNAP benefits than the rest of the state. Milwaukee’s obesity rate is also higher than the state average.
It’s the Family Stupid
It’s all about the family. Strong families’ equal strong communities which lead to strong states and then a strong country. Families have always been the focal point of our society. I thought I’d mention the family structure because the people who lead Milwaukee think that the out-of-control crime rate in the city is because the cops are a bunch of racists. Meanwhile, 82% of children born in Milwaukee do not have a father listed on their birth certificate.
Rush Limbaugh’s Low Information Voter
The lefty media still is the media that reaches the low information voter. When you turn on spectrum to watch the game, the Spectrum “News” comes on and wow, it is filled with spin. The local news, that comes on after the “New Price is Right” or the “Wheel of Fortune” is terrible. What they all have in common is that people don’t seek these sources out. Like CNN at airports, no one asks to see it, it is just there. Low information voters, by definition, don’t seek out Fox News, Newsmax or the Meagan Kelly Show. Thus, they are low information voters.
I know it was you, Fredo!
In the Godfather Part Two, Michael Corleone described a scene in Cuba where a rebel was willing to blow himself up and take a police officer with him instead of allowing himself to be taken into custody. When Hyman Roth questioned his thought on the subject, Michael noted that’s why he thought the rebels could win. Obama’s buddy Bill Ayers blew up police stations in the 60’s. Lenin was able to take over Russia and destroy one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The only thing Cuba and Russia didn’t have, was Trump and 134 million households with guns… 😊
About the Author
