Healthcare Crisis

      America spends more on healthcare than any other country, exceeding $4.95 trillion in 2023.   Since 2000, medical costs have increased on average 4.85% each year, outpacing the GDP’s 2.85% annual growth.   In this decade, healthcare costs are expected to increase by 5.6% per year and 6.1% for those who pay out of pocket.  At these rates, the total U.S. healthcare costs will exceed $7 trillion by 2030.
      Federal and state laws make it illegal for hospitals to deny medical care for individuals who do not have healthcare coverage.   These laws also make it illegal to deny healthcare to any of the 30+ million undocumented migrants in America regardless of their employment or health insurance status.   As a result, nearly $500 billion in unpaid medical expenses are passed along to us each year as part of our annual increase in medical costs.
      Losses due to the uninsured have increased dramatically due to the 9 million migrants that have entered the U.S. illegally since January of 2021.   While the uninsured are a leading cause of the increase in healthcare costs each year   Medicaid and Medicare have also significantly added to our woes.
      President Obama assured us his Affordable Care Act (ACA) was going to fix all of America’s healthcare issues.   ACA, otherwise known as Obamacare, became law on March 23, 2010. Before ACA became law, 92% of Americans said they were satisfied with their healthcare coverage.   After ACA, less than half said they were happy as most were forced out of their previous plans while ACA regulations increased the cost of their premiums and copays.
      ACA was also supposed to fix America’s healthcare enrollment and funding problems by making healthcare more affordable; however, enrollment only increased 7% overall leaving 27 million American citizens still without health insurance.   ACA did significantly increase the enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).   16 million individuals were added to Medicaid and CHIP by the end of President Obama’s second term.   This added another $4 trillion to the federal debt during the same time.
      Those of you who pay for your own private healthcare programs made up 40% of the overall 2023 healthcare expenditures, while 10% of U.S. citizens paid cash for their healthcare in what is called an out-of-pocket expense.   Besides paying for your own healthcare, your government also gives you the opportunity to pay for the healthcare of 156 million citizens.   Your tax dollars paid half of America’s $4.95 trillion healthcare bill in 2023 through state and federal programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, and CHIP costing you an additional $2.475 trillion.   Politicians tell us we need Medicare for All, now!   What they describe as a single-payer healthcare system.   They are determined to eliminate our private healthcare and replace it with a system that gives them complete control.   Politicians have a way of making it all sound so good but here’s what they don’t tell us.   Medicare became law in 1965 and has required federal subsidies since 1969.   Despite subsidies, Medicare spends significantly more than it brings in through the Medicare payroll tax.   Even with workers and employers paying into the Medicare fund, federal subsidies for Medicare make up one-third of the total deficit each year.
      The Congressional Budget Office and the White House’s Office of Management and Budget conclude Medicare will be insolvent by 2025.   This is the real reason politicians want every citizen on Medicare.   They know Medicare will collapse soon and believe they can rein in costs by deciding who, how, and when we can have medical care.
      America leads the world with the most advanced hospitals, medical systems, and research but care for the average citizen is more like reactive sick care than proactive healthcare.   We have the knowledge and ability to identify most illnesses before they become chronic; however, when your country is $34 trillion in debt, only the wealthy can afford the medical care that actually sustains quality of life.

No Excuse for Substandard Healthcare

There is no excuse for the wealthiest nation on Earth to have substandard healthcare for its citizens.   I want to make this perfectly clear!   Every industry in America is controlled by federal government regulation.   This includes our medical industry.   Politicians love to blame our overly expensive healthcare system on Big Pharma and Health Management Organizations (HMO) because it takes the spotlight off their failures.   And unfortunately, there is a large portion of society that will always believe the lies politicians tell are the absolute truth.
      HMOs operate with a net profit margin of 2.5%. Most hospitals operate month to month with little or no profit margin, so they technically operate as non-profit.   All too often hospitals show losses in the millions of dollars each month because the Feds are late in their Medicaid and Medicare payments, or they have reduced what they are willing to pay.   The net profit margin of Big Pharma is 15% as compared to restaurants 15%, telecom 15%, transportation 20%, technology 20%, and financial services 25%.   The net profit margin of Big Pharma is in the bottom 50% of all U.S. industries but it has the highest research and development costs.   While the gross profit of pharmaceutical companies is high, they still don’t make it into the top 10 of industries.   Again, to be clear, it was the policies of the federal government that created Big Pharma and it is the Food and Drug Administration that overregulates it.   The way we reduce medical costs is to remove government control and allow it to return to the free market.
      The only sector of America’s medical industry that operates in the free market without government regulations is Aesthetic medicine, commonly known as Cosmetic surgery.   And the free market is why it has become a boon for doctors.   A free market enables productivity that increases quality and decreases prices.   Better quality, the more people want it, lower prices, more people can afford it.   Aesthetic medicine is a $300 billion-a-year industry with a 15% annual growth rate.
Read about America’s Mental Healthcare Crisis.
Return to Entitlement & Welfare.