Elephants in the Health Care Room

Health care costs, whether paid for by private or tax-payer money, are about to collide with several elephants standing in line in the health care room. One of the key issues is the sheer number of baby boomers who will want and expect care – even though most won’t be working anymore. The front edge of the baby boomer wave is just now hitting Medicare. Whoever the next president is will definitely feel the pain. Who will pay?

Another was driven home by an article just published showing that lifespan in the poorest Americans¹ is now getting shorter due to smoking, obesity, and blood pressure – self-inflicted problems by and large. Some will argue that the disadvantaged have less quality of care and fewer resources to afford better food.

While there are always elements of truth in the various factors that may cause health problems, the politically incorrect observation that these people are bringing their health problems on themselves is for the most part the real truth. Of the 47 million currently uninsured Americans, many fall into the category of not taking very good care of themselves – and it’s not because they don’t know what healthy behavior is.

In the final analysis the only ones left to pay for all of this health care are the hard-working middle class Americans who mostly struggle to pay for existing levels of health care right now – if they can afford it at all. How are they going to feel when outnumbered significantly by people who chose not to live a healthy lifestyle and huge numbers of older non-working people all wanting “free” and very expensive care?

We are setting ourselves up for class and generation warfare. I have not seen any of the political candidates confront the real health issues – as doing so is sure to offend large voter blocks. However, unless our society openly debates and solves the elephant problems we will be steamrolled by them. We can’t keep printing money, the rich aren’t rich enough to pay for everything, and pretty soon our middle class will descend into poverty.

Here is an idea. Have the government and the oil industry form a joint venture and allow drilling in the various places currently not allowed. All government profits from the joint venture go to health care. This would improve oil prices, national security, and pay for a large portion of health care. Since the environmentalists and the 47 million uninsured are mostly democrats, it is a compromise they may be able to live with. As green technology goes mainstream the oil venture can be replaced with newer technologies that are more eco friendly.