Medicare and the like needs to be more like normal health insurance…deductibles, co-pays and the like. Moreover, standards of health need to be set. If you are obese or a smoker…you pay more or don’t get coverage. Make the wrong choices in life? Don’t expect society to bail you out.

As you know better than most, the first step when a corporation is losing money is to cut costs. As far as I know, there is no specific grant support from the National Institutes of Health for research on how to save money. I would recommend that something like 20% of the research funding be used for cost reduction research. To start with, health care software is a mess. There are few standards and little or no quality control on the standards.

One cannot write a small business innovation grant to support software and other standards development, because cost is a significant disincentive to the use of standards. Therefore, the developer will never make a profit. Since medicine is international, new standards should also be international. The writing of software that conforms to these standards should, by and large, be performed by private enterprise.

Respectfully yours,

Robert C. Leif, Ph.D.

Other areas where there are problems:
1) People getting benefits without ever paying into the system. This is primarily women who also live longer. This is being somewhat reduced as more women work but they do not contribute nearly as much as men.

2) 60% of medicare spending is done inthe last 6 months of life. This is due to efforts by family to do everythig possible to keep someone alive but it a waste of money. We must have hard limits. If someone is given tow independant opinions that they have less than a year to live then they should be made confortable and not spend money on more tests and expensive care.

3) Medicade is health spend on the poor. A national health care system would cover them and make this unnecessary. Medicade can be blamed on boomers but can partially be blamed on our ignorant immigration system that lets millions cross our borders and then become legal. We must complete the fence on the Mexican border, shut down employers of illegals and change our laws that allow any baby born inthe U.S. to be a citizen with illegal parents. Letting im millions of poor will only increase Medicade expenses.

Don’t mistake national health care as being totally funded by the government. Employers now pay for much of the employee’s insurance, they will have to just pay in a % amount into the national plan. Individuals will all need to pay something as well. Even the poor can pay a small co pay.

We either have the guts to force Congress to take hard measures or we go down as another failed experiment.

ON TERM LIMITS:
Are term limits really a suitable answer? If you were elected to the House in November, you would be in office to oversee nearly $30 trillion of GDP passage, and ~$7 trillion of tax expenditures before your term expires. If you were elected to the senate, you’d see nearly $100 trillion dollars of GDP and about $25 trillion of government expenditures. My point is simply that governance of this magnitude of activity takes a long time to grasp. Imagine if our congress were filled with representatives who had a maximum of 6 years of experience. They’d be forced to leave office just as they got the last of the wet out from behind their ears.

Also, I tend to believe that lobbyists already yield too much power in Washington. Maybe they always have – all one needs to do is watch “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” What happens if our elected representatives have forced limits? I believe that what little power our representatives have today would be eliminated as all the knowledge, history, finances, etc. rest with the lobbyists. If a truly ‘enlightened’ person was determined to change things, the lobbyists would simply have to wait him/her out. At least today, our representatives can look forward to establishing some level of power to pursue his/her agenda over time and longevity. That representative may even become corrupt, but at least he/she would be a corrupt person that I have a voting chance to get out of office. If the lobbyists had full reign, I’d have no vote at all. I don’t ‘dislike’ term lits, but I don’t think it’s as easy or as effective as many people romanticize.

ON SOCIAL SECURITY AND OTHER ENTITLEMENTS:
I have a friend who has a ridiculous amount of debt – about as much as his yearly income. Maybe more by now. He spends like a rock star, and he doesn’t make nearly enough money to cover his habits. Unfortunately, the basic laws of economics are starting to hit him hard, and he’s being forced to make some very hard decisions. He’s looking for another job now to pay off the debts, and in the process, he’s cutting back on some of his favorite things. He put his nice sports car up for sale, and he’s spending more time at home with his family. I think our government is in the same predicament as my friend. And like my friend, I believe our government needs to make the same hard choices. And since we are our government… That means us.

My friends, it doesn’t matter how we got behind the horse. What matters is that we’re behind the horse, and the mess from the horse has to be cleaned up or walked in. Period. I didn’t get to ride the horse, I didn’t even get to pet it. But I don’t want to walk in it’s mess, and certainly don’t want my children or grandchildren to walk in it.

How do we clean it? First… We need to get the horse to stop making messes. We need to stop the deficit spending immediately and start getting our financial house in order. Next, we need to start cleaning up the piles. Part of cleaning up piles of “mess” is figuring out where to dump them. Since we’re all in the pen together, we’re all going to have messy boots, and we’re all going to have to dig in deep, pick up our share, and carry our share out of the pen. That means… Cutting back on entitlement payouts. Increasing the eligible age for Social Security benefits. Increasing Social Security & Medicare taxes. Freezing growth in all government programs for multiple years. Informing the younger generations that their “fair share” of Social Security benefits will be significantly less than their parents, thereby lessening the tax burdens of future generations. We may even want to investigate a gradual phasing out of some programs like Social Security. Once the mess is cleaned out of the pen, and everyone agrees that the pen is cleaned out, then we can think about whether and how to get on the horse again.

The way I see things, we have no other choice. ….Of course we could decide to just to walk in the ‘mess’ the horse leaves, and watch as it gets piled higher and deeper for our children. I personally find that distasteful, and am willing to support hard choices and real action that cleans out the pen.

BTW… Has anyone seen the other pens? The state pens are just as deep, some deeper. And the local pens are looking pretty mucky too.

ON FREE TRADE
I suppose that some day, historians will look upon the early 21st century and ponder how the American people agreed to give away their wealth. I also wonder if any nation has ever done that before. I’m an American, so I’m a profit-loving capitalist. But surely there is a better way to grow developing nations through better trade deals that encourage the growth, not the exploitation, of other nations’ workers while maintaining wealth and power.

I suppose I’m just some crazy, horse-following, opinionated, arm chair chart monkey. Now where’d I put my Chinese customs and history book? I think I’m going to need it.

EXCUSE ME MRS. GEN Xer,

“I am angry at the generation that went before us…they were the ones at the helm when over the last decades”

It sounds as though you did VERY WELL by that PAST generation by what you say???

You say, and I QUOTE, “I am a 36 year old married mother of two young children. My husband and I are lucky…we make a good living and are able to save approx 20% of our salaries – between 401K’s, 403B’s, IRA’s and savings in 529 plans for our kids’ education”

I suppose the education you got to do all this was just handed to you? I’ll bet your Mother and Father BUSTED their BUNS for years to get YOU through School. Who the HELL do you think paid for all that “Public Education” while you were YOUNG???

AND, who do you think paid for their Parents retirement? Not YOUR mother and father …nooooooooo

The problem is not with the system, it is how the system hs changed through the years!

As aristotlehoop put it:

“When I signed up for Social Security in 1956 I was promised two things:

“My Social Security number could not be used for any purpose other than Social Security.
My contributions would be kept separate from the general fund and would only be used for Social Security payments.

“Social Security was fixed in 1986. Let the politicians fund their pet projects and wars with tax money. Let them keep their hands off Social Security contributions. My social security contributions, if invested carefully, would pay off better than social security does. I AM ENTITLED TO MY SOCIAL SECURITY PAYMENT.”

Had the system stayed this way, you wouldn’t be complaining about giving YOUR mother and father the same benefit they gave theirs! Do you have any idea how much MORE is collected every year in SS and Medicare benefits than is PAID? The problem is they used it all on other PET projects, TOOK OUR money and spent it ELSEWHERE!!! BUT NO…Our wonderful Government MADE new laws, pertaining to these funds, so they could further TAP another source of income for these PET projects!

We (the generation that went before us, as you so nicely put it) have PAID our share, MUCH more than we will ever receive!!!! It is now YOUR turn! If you don’t like it, FIX the system! But, do not TOUCH MY bennies, I now depend on to survive, or you will have a MAJOR Generation Gap WAR on your hands!

Look at the GREEDY politicians, not the previous generation for the problems at hand now.

I also want to thank Mr. Perot, for his long hard work not only on this site, but throughout his LIFE, in trying to make a difference! Also for providing this wonderful site, where IF people take the time, can see where the problems are.

I voted for you Mr. Perot, you won me over with your “Giant, sucking sound” speech.

I personally know these slothful souls and know that each of them are capable of working and paying taxes without any question (fooled their quacks though). Have our government workers, their union representatives and pension plan managers found ways to guarantee their job security while creating a need for more caseworkers and such? And does anyone really believe that the NAACP and ACLU along with other concerned human rights organizations along with their hungry attorneys won’t make a case of all the monies paid out by illegal immigrants for SS benefits who are not eligible for disbursements under our current laws and statutes? What happens to the money pot when the Supreme Court rules in their favor???

I can’t own a business or land in Mexico or Japan but Hispanics can work here illegally creating Mexico’s second greatest GNP and the Japanese businesses operating here are evading taxes in both countries. My father was a great patriot who went to his grave believing that our government would never borrow or make use of our SSI monies. He thought I was misinformed when I told him they were taking it off the backside with IOU’s they put in some file drawer in Virginia. He had trust and faith in American government and I’m sadly losing it at breakneck speed.

These office holders and ‘servant’s’ in service of our country and entrusted with our money won’t have to hear the fat lady sign her song as they’ll be retired on a great pension and benefit package I don’t qualify for – YET… They do stupid things like print monies out of thin air with the idea that our children can pay it back someday. They won’t have to be here to be accountable for it sadly. Our dollar is so weak it is embarrassing to me. Venezuela’s CITGO gas stations should have been confiscated by our government when its leader made comments which were terrorist threats. Hugo is trying to get the EURO as the new world standard for trading currency, too. His talk with the former USSR and Iran is troubling and his position, posturing and actions are in direct violation of the Monroe Doctrine. There truly is a tragedy in American diplomacy here an abroad. We are losing it folks, Alvin Toffler and Ross Perot were/are right – take heed!

I wish to thank you Mr. Perot, for a forum to snivel in/on. I voted with/for you twice and know you’re capable and professional and thoroughly qualified to present this data. I learned about the site a few weeks ago in the Morning News business section but was afraid to come on here and validate my fears. I intend on sending this to all those in my email listing. God bless you for what you’ve done for this country and its citizens, too. It is my daily prayer that our God continue to keep His omnipotent Hand over this great Nation of ours long enough to have souls like you enlighten us and wake-up the masses to see the light of truth here i.e. we are being sold down the road to big international business interests that are not in the least concerned with its denizens. May God bless you and watch over you and your family.

Charlie Aker
NW Arkansas

http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2008/05/canadas-breaking-health-care-system.html