I ask all my liberal friends: please tell me how Geoff Colvin is wrong in his recent Fortune column? Just because the Republican Party has devolved into a pack of Druids in bad suits doesn’t mean they can’t have a good idea now and then. And in fairness, Rep. Paul Ryan seems less Druid-like than most of them. Nor is he playing Chicken Little when he warns us that the budgetary sky is falling on top of us at this very minute, and the principal cause is Medicare.
It cost over half a trillion dollars last year and it is rising fast. “Well, the wars cost even more than that!” you reply? “So what!” says I. End them too; the hole we need to fill is big enough for both plus agriculture subsidies and one or two other big programs. (I nominate HUD, but that’s another post.)
Besides, money isn’t the only problem with the current system; it may not even be the biggest problem. Conservatives are right when they say little good comes from the government making health care decisions. That doesn’t mean they have no role to play, but when grandma is 92 and could use a new knee, or even worse, a couple of months in intensive care before finally kicking off, it is grandma and the family that should decide if the expense is really worth it – not the fact that, “Oh, what the hell, Medicare will cover it.” And grandma and the family should have some skin in the game.
Having some skin in the game would surely cut down on waste, fraud and unnecessary procedures. It might even put an end to ads for the Scooter Store (see 6/4/10 post), which is justification enough for me.
Colvin is correct in saying that “the people aren’t dummies,” at least most of the time but especially when it comes to spending their money. If you are worried that some people won’t do well at making health care decisions you would be right, but you could always join the ranks of the many that will step up and provide intelligent counseling to consumers who want it. In any event, it will cause less pain and suffering than the collapse of the entire system. Just remember, the U.S. has greater debt per capita than Greece; this isn’t a small problem we are facing.
So, how is Colvin wrong?
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