steve, if you can find data that justifies the aggregate life expectancy and infant mortality to cost among us citizens versus others, i am all ears. but i think you will find that not very forthcoming. from what i can tell it’s a fact. and should be a truism among americans. even then i am not confident the fact that people are getting ripped off and companies are feeding a flawed system will provoke people to demand change.

Well-it isn’t. A truism is something so obvious that it does not need to be stated.

I am willing to bet (seriously–anyone in for a dollar?) that the average person on the street will not “know” this truth. Heck, I am not convinced of it either.

A little more thoughtful though–if the problem is our “insurance” companies don’t have enough cash to cover those instances when higher expenses are incurred, then let’s allow health insurance to actually “act like insurance.” Let’s allow insurance companies to charge each individual a rate that is based on their likelihood of requiring care. Thus, if you have AIDS, or some other high-cost condition, expect to pay more. A lot more. (You are a risky driver? You pay higher car insurance. You have a fire supression system and burglar alarm in your house–you pay less.)

Okay–I don’t like that one either. It’s seems wrong on many levels (even though it is exactly what we allow with life insurance and all the others.)

So here’s a thought–let’s run everyone’s costs up to meet the average. (and since it is the average, it is I hope a truism that the sum of all payments will equal the sum of all costs.) If we do this everyone will pay more, but everyone will have everything covered.

Of course, the second one will only work if we mandate that everyone must also PAY for healthcare. You will not be able to “opt out.” (And remember, unlike auto insurance which is also “mandatory” if we own a car, we can’t simply choose to “not own a life/health”)

At times it seems that “government owned and operated” is the best answer. Not because it will give us healthcare that is “better” and not because it will reduce costs (has it ever?) but simply because we all can feel that we now can “blame the government” and now it’s “not our fault.”

The problem is that we have so many myths about where health care should come from and what is good or bad. That we have lower indices of life expectancy and infant mortality compared to higher costs per person than other post-industrial nations is a truism. That the US is the only post-industrial nation along with perhaps South Africa not to provide a system of universal healthcare is also true.

Putting just these two pieces together should tell us that the current system does not make much sense. We are not getting what we pay for. So if government is not the solution, what is the solution to help us and our companies who are forced to front high bills in fringe for employees to cover health care costs to stay competitive to stop getting ripped off? the first thing that has to happen is some kind of cost control before we can talk about universal coverage which is as unsustainable as the current costs seem to be.