I like this curve. It demonstrates in many ways the strenth of our culture, our society, our nation. I remember about a year ago talking with a young gentleman who disagreed with me...that the shape of opinion on political matters was not well represented by the normal distribution described in the Bell Curve. He kept trying to attack my assertion that you and I tending to be represented as the area limited by the first standard deviation was a false assertion. I kept trying to repeat to him that, there are specific policy issues that may gain greater or lessor value, as a mean value for a population, on a specific policy issue, but in the main people tend not to not want a dictatorial government while, on the other hand, expect governments to step in as a fair arbiter of justice to enforce limits on behaviour on the other. That there is, in fact, a governmental Golden Mean. And while some forces tend to want to increasingly control the activities of others, there is a force within those who know that the tendency to control the activities of others is detrimental to our natural state, of just being, after all, merely human.
So, on specific issues, perhaps the curve that would represent those times when Normal belief becomes Skewed, a better representation should show that. Therefore:
this goofy graphic.
Those of you with more time on your hands, if you could find me a good little gif-file, I'd appreciate it. But this little graphic will serve our purposes tonight.
The
Democracy Project has a post up tonight talking about nationalized healthcare. It would be a big step for us. One that would promise to solve all our problems. And yet, in all the countries that have adopted national healthcare as a panacea, to those who cannot make choices themselves, those who can afford to provide their own health care are increasingly in the enviable position of receiving appropriate health care, while there nation healthcare compatriots huddle in waiting lines, waiting for their turn. It's kinda ironic. The hippies who want us all to worship Mother Gaia are unwilling to admit that Nature has no sense of compassion. Without the loot, you're going to scoot. Right off this mortal coil. Darn.
The results of polling indicates that only 29 percent of Americans favour a national health care program. So, looking at the graphic above, we see a Negative Skew (the bottom curve). Those who would prefer national healthcare strongly will be those represented on the Left. Those who strongly oppose national healthcare will be represented on the Right.
It is only fair to suggest that there are those that believe some government sponsored health care should be made available to those most in need.
And that is exactly the issue that I tried to settle with the young gentleman, mentioned earlier in this post, a year ago. I am a Republican. I am a conservative. But, I'm not an anarchist, nor am I a Libertarian. I tend to be more Libertarian in my outlook than many/most, but am well aware of the need for government to regulate many of our daily activities. Especially, the need to assure owners of stock and debt that those who have our money are reporting there activities to us truthfully and openly. The days of Commodore Vanderbilt are done. (Although I wish I had worked with that old pirate.) There is just too much money being pledged on good faith, too quickly, to not require the accurate and fulsome reporting of business activity to the general public. Globalization is not a Letter of Marque for the Skillings of this world.
Having said this does not mean that the government has a say in how those funds are used or invested. Nobody came into this world with health insurance. And nobody is leaving with it.
What government has done is to increase the costs of health insurance to the insurance providers, by mandating what must be covered by a health insurance policy.
If you or I could simply purchase a health insurance policy that covered catastrophic events, we could all afford it. Mostly, I'm a healthy guy. And if there's a clear understanding between me and my insurance carrier about what they will, and will not cover, I can purchase health insurance to help me cover the cost up to whatever level I choose. In the last ten years I've probably spent about three thousand dollars on "health care". I've had a couple of x-rays. Shoulder...later, knee. Tested that water-on-the-knee fluid (amazingly expensive). And the removal of said fluid. Had a bad cold a couple of years ago. Office visit and medicine.
Pretty much other than that? Ten years, three grand. What would health insurance cost me? At a minimum, $3,600.00 a year. Ten years? (Don't tell me you can't do this math problem...)
Have I been lucky? Yes. After a traffic accident I pretty much lost the use of my right arm/shoulder about eight years ago. No insurance? No specialists. I did get an x-ray ($90.0o) and there was nothing broken. Three months of massage therapy, and all the blood damage and muscle damage in my arm was rehabbed. My fast ball came back.
If I had had insurance I'm sure I would have had a full spectrum of medical tests...MRI, etc. But even talking to my GP I had to be cautious. The wrong question would trigger exposure on his part for malpractise. He's been my doc for about 15-20 years and he is younger than I.
Hopefully he keeps practising until I'm done with the need for an MD. Not many GP's would allow the patient to have control over his own treatment.
But what would happen if I was in an accident and required hospitalization for an extended period? Yeah, I'd love to have insurance against that possibility. But your politicians, in an effort to make sure that every little quirk and bug is covered by mandates, has made my choice to provide myself with insurance a no-brainer. Chances are? I'll never need catastrophic insurance.
But if I do?
Until we get serious about asking the question, "Why is health insurance so expensive?" and dealing honestly with the answer, it will remain cheaper and easier for many of us to simply self-insure. I'm not going to pay $100,000.00 a year to buy a million dollar life insurance policy. And insurance companies wouldn't make any money if they charged rates that were too high.
But they are willing to provide you with a hedge against risk for a reasonable price. If only government would get out of the way and let them do their job.
