Economics 101: Sweden's Free Market Renaissance
The Swedish get it...
Is it really about "Health Care?"
The "health care" bill that was passed by the Senate, now stands before the House of Representatives. I use the term "health care" loosely, because I feel that if this bill was really about health care, it would have been passed over the summer. The White House and members of Congress would like everyone to believe that it's about health care, yet they don't address some of the major problems with our health care system, most importantly, tort reform.
What amazes me is that no one seems to ever talk about the meat of this bill. The media or the politicians never discuss what the bill actually contains in those 2000-plus pages. That bothers me, because this bill creates a new infrastructure, with hundreds of new bureaus, programs, regulations and thousands of new employees. We already have hundreds of bureaus, programs, regulations and thousands of people watching over our health care. What is all this new infrastructure for?
This is why a lot of people like me are against this bill. If the bill was actually about health care reform, I would be a full supporter, but the reality is, it's about restructuring our government and our economy, disguised as health care reform. This new infrastructure will permanently alter and damage the U.S. economic system and the American way of life.
Fun Facts
The Constitution
The Constitution was written by several committees over the summer of 1787, but the committee most responsible for the final form we know today is the "Committee of Stile and Arrangement". This Committee was tasked with getting all of the articles and clauses agreed to by the Convention and putting them into a logical order. On September 10, 1787, the Committee of Style set to work, and two days later, it presented the Convention with its final draft. The members were Alexander Hamilton, William Johnson, Rufus King, James Madison, and Gouverneur Morris. The actual text of the Preamble and of much of the rest of this final draft is usually attributed to Gouverneur Morris.
The newly minted document began with a grand flourish of the Preamble, the Constitution's raison d'être. It holds in its words the hopes and dreams of the delegates to the convention, a justification for what they had done. Its words are familiar to us today, but because of time and context, the words are not always easy to follow. The remainder of this Topic Page will examine each sentence in the Preamble and explain it for today's audience.
Did You Know?
Health Care
In 2008, Medicare, denied medical claims at nearly double the average for private insurers: Medicare denied 6.85% of claims. The highest private insurance denier was Aetna @ 6.8%, followed by Anthem Blue Cross @ 3.44, with an average denial rate of medical claims by private insurers of 3.88%.
In 2009, the AMA reports that Medicare denied only 4% of claims—a big improvement, with denials by all other private insurers, to average only 2.79%.
- Aetna - Denied 1.81% of all claims
- Anthem BCBS - Denied 4.34% of all claims
- Cigna - Denied 2.56% of all claims
- Coventry - Denied 3.99% of all claims
- Humana - Denied 2.03% of all claims
- UHC - Denied 2.02% of all claims
- Medicare - Denied 4.00% of all claims
For more information, visit the American Medial Association Website.
