Our Three Tragedies -- The Ancient Greeks and the Affordable Care Act

The debate over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare, is looking like a Greek tragedy – not one but three.

The first tragedy is President Obama’s age and experience. 

While no one chooses his or her birthday, Obama’s lack of political experience, especially guiding something as tricky as a near overhaul of health care in the United States, is his responsibility.

Had he not been a young man in a hurry in 2008 – and certainly a better student of American history – he would have delayed his presidential ambitions. 

Instead of seeking his party’s presidential nomination, Obama would have gained executive suite experience as either a governor or a Cabinet member in a Hillary Clinton Administration.  But he pressed on, winning his current post.

Which is unfortunate.  Because if Obama was a better history student, he would know the most effective presidents – the ones with the chops for the job – came to the White House with one or two characteristics:  Prior executive experience as either a governor, a general or a Congressional leader and, usually, 50 years old.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan – some of the country’s best presidents – possessed one, if not both, attributes when they became the country’s leader.

If Obama demonstrated patience, he’d be watching this debate from the sidelines, not find himself in the middle of it, showing what he really is – a political novice whose inability to manage the new law may very well sink his presidency and his party, too.

The second tragedy is the law’s name.  The citizenry is finally hearing – loud and clear – it’s called the Affordable Care Act. 

But when there are, potentially, as many as 50 million people facing cancelled health insurance plans because theirs don’t cover every disease, test and possible treatment required under the new law – and facing large increases in their monthly premiums – then this new law doesn’t look “affordable.”

It looks expensive.

In California, the Los Angeles Times reported, some self-employed people paying less than $100 a month for their monthly health insurance premium are looking at an increase of about $140 a month so their plan is in synch with the new law.

The McClatchy News Service reported as many as 40 million people in the United States, buying health insurance through their employers, may see their policies cancelled because they don’t stack up with the law and another 11 million people buying policies on their own are also likely facing the same problem.

And, of course, everyone heard – or saw by now – the infamous video of President Obama saying, “If you like your health insurance plan, you can keep it.”

That statement didn’t come with any caveats. The American people took him for his word.

But now Obama’s eating his words, attempting to find wiggle room to keep that promise while, at the same time, attempting to maintain his signature legislation, something that’s more difficult by the day.  Especially when he’s receiving “help” from former President Bill Clinton, who also made a run at changing how health care is managed and paid for.

The third tragedy is economics.  Its first law is that there’s no such thing as a free lunch and if that isn’t understood by now, it may never be.

A to Z health care coverage – and then some – is costly.  This isn’t like buying a liability policy for your car – usually sold for fewer dollars – so anyone you hit is paid off.

The new law requires you to buy a comprehensive health care policy covering you for anything and everything even though the likelihood of you needing such coverage might be statistically remote.

So what everyone is suddenly learning is that the Obama Administration, through the Affordable Care Act, sold off the American public to the insurance industry.

You’ll pay their rates – and you’ll enjoy it!

And given the Supreme Court’s ruling, there are few legal challenges available.

The Ancient Greeks thought no tragedy was meaningless.  There’s always a lesson. 

Maybe we’re finally learning that if we paid own doctors, out of our own pockets, with our own money, instead of receiving a subsidy from the insurance industry, as we have since World War II, then health care’s prices will drop.

We need to stop acting like crack addicts and wean ourselves off the insurance industry.  If we don’t, health care prices will continue to be inflated.

Sources:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-health-sticker-shock-20131027,0,2756077.story#axzz2kj7MCbYZ

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/11/07/207909/analysis-tens-of-millions-could.html

http://itsfourthandlong.blogspot.com/2008/03/history-of-american-president-what.html

Betty Crocker -- The Widow Maker

These products, pictured above, from Betty Crocker, a household name for decades, contain minute traces of trans fats.  According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's latest proposals, either the trans fats will be removed or these products will be prohibited in the United States.

According to the label for the frosting, there's 1.5 grams of trans fat per two teaspoons.  The brownie box label says there's .05 grams of trans fat per serving.  As the FDA sees it, the slightest consumption of these products will kill you.

Meantime, bacon, high in fat and cholesterol, remains good for you.  That's because the FDA has yet to eliminate it from the American diet.

But if they're successful with Betty Crocker, bacon's next -- and so's your cheeseburger, your pizza and anything else you happen to enjoy.

As the FDA sees it, you're a dog -- too stupid to manage your own diet.

Thick as a Brick and You Are Too

I’ve come down from the upper class to mend your rotten ways.

My father was a man-of-power whom everyone obeyed.

…

I’ve got to put you straight just like I did with my old man --

Twenty years too late.

~ Ian Anderson

Never once during my teenage years did it occur to me that Ian Anderson was a prescient songwriter.

But all you need to do is read his lyrics for his band’s “Thick as a Brick” album, released in early 1972, to realize he was onto something.

The Food and Drug Administration, which approves nearly all food and drugs sold in the United States, recently increased the cost patients pay for their asthma inhalers, The New York Times reported.

The regulator became so worried about the country’s 40 million asthma patients polluting the air with chlorofluorocarbons that it did what any government critic might expect it to do – it screwed over the patients in the name of clean air, requiring producers to eliminate the gas from their inhalers, thereby increasing the price for asthma medicine.

While one might see their ruling as a victory for the environment, the day-to-day effect was something perhaps even the FDA didn’t imagine:  It removed an over-the-counter inhaler, Primatene Mist, along with other generic inhalers, which were cheaper than brand name medicines.

In other words, the only accomplishment the FDA brought about was a lesson in real life economics – eliminate the competition and prices rise.

How did this happen?  Easy.  Armstrong Pharmaceuticals, owner of Primatene Mist, and other generic producers didn’t have the financial resources to change their inhalers. 

As The Times reported:

“’The high prices in the United States are because the FDA has set the bar so high there is no clear pathway for generics,’ said Lisa Urquhart of EvaluatePharma, a consulting firm based in London that provides drug and biotech analysis.  ‘I’m sure the brands (the brand name producers of asthma medicine) are thrilled.’”

In Europe – an example Democrats love to point to when talking up health care – drug regulators are more concerned about patients than air so governments on that progressive continent continue to buy generic inhalers and, in some cases, even give them away.

But a family in Oakland, Calif., with two asthmatic daughters, 13 and 10 years old, is paying, before insurance reduces some of the cost, $175 for each inhaler every month. 

Prior to the FDA’s decision to save the environment, this same inhaler cost about $15, The Times reported.

Now the FDA wants to take away all artificial trans fats, oils used to make frozen pizza, coffee creamers, frosting and packaged cookies.  As the Los Angeles Times reported, an artificial trans fat – the consumption of which increases the chances of a heart attack – is produced by adding hydrogen to liquid oil, which turns it into a solid for making margarine or even Crisco.

What’s the next thing the FDA will eliminate from your diet?  French fries?  Hamburgers?  The pizza you enjoy on a Friday or Saturday night at your favorite restaurant?  Coke?  Wine?  Beer?  

It might seem like pure fantasy now, but will it stay that way?  And what will be the unintended consequence – the one the FDA never imagined as it worked to save you from yourself?

Many Americans might be upset with the FDA’s ruling on trans fats, but should anyone be surprised? 

With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the government is armed with every mandate it needs to save Americans. 

It’s not a huge stretch of the imagination to envision an insurance executive testifying before Congress that hamburgers need to be eliminated from the U.S. diet because, as the latest studies from the Centers for Disease Control show, only about 20 percent of all adults exercise regularly, meaning hamburgers, like trans fats, become a safety issue.

You need not be taking any needless risks.  The government is here to protect you.

Sources:

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/jethro+tull/thick+as+a+brick_20071158.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/us/the-soaring-cost-of-a-simple-breath.html?_r=0

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2011/07/cost-increase-asthma-inhalers-expensive

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-trans-fat-fda-questions-answers-20131107,0,7585873.story#axzz2k5NxwrHd

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/blogs/daily-dose/2013/11/07/fda-seeks-ban-trans-fats-food/aFqVWS1H1A7Jj0AVEPBLBJ/blog.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/health/fda-trans-fats.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57582759/cdc-80-percent-of-american-adults-dont-get-recommended-exercise/

Obamacare and the new drug policy

WASHINGTON – As the Obama Administration recoils over its inability to launch its health insurance website on time, White House spokesman Jay Carney, on Friday, announced the government’s new drug policy, called “No Secrets.”

The government, he said, reached an agreement late Thursday night with some of the country’s leading social media websites and the world’s largest search engine, Google, which, he says, “ensures Americans will have full access to their prescription drugs.”

Under the new policy, which will become effective January 1, 2014, pharmaceutical companies will “friend” their patients on Facebook. 

“No one will be allowed to reject these ‘friend’ requests because, with the government’s approval, Facebook will build a profile of the drugs each of their users are taking – under a doctor’s guidance, of course,” Carney said.

It’s expected, Carney said, Facebook will make everyone’s drug profile searchable – both in and out of the social media website.

“Think about it about this way – not only do your friends want to be friends with you on Facebook but so do your drugs,” said Mark Zuckerberg, the website’s chief executive officer, in a prepared statement.

“The next time you’re at the pharmacy, and you’ve forgotten what pills you’re taking, Facebook will be there to help,” Zuckerberg said.  “Either you call up your drug profile on Facebook, using your smartphone, or your pharmacist does on their desktop computer.

“Either way, you’re covered,” he added.

LinkedIn, a leading website for working professionals, is also part of this new policy, Carney said, because they’ll add a section to each users profile, detailing the drugs they’re taking, the amount and how often they’re required to consume them.

As with Facebook, this section of each drug profile will be made fully available for anyone to see – in and out of the website.

“Users of Viagra, Cialis and antidepressants – whatever people are taking – will be able to joke with one another about their experiences on these drugs and hire one another, too, maybe even become friends,” Carney said.

Google will take the information assembled by Facebook and LinkedIn and create searchable profiles, detailing the medicine each patient is taking, he said.

“As of now, we don’t think this new policy require anything extra, like search engine optimization,” Carney said.  “Regular algorithms should work.”

That useless brain

Why ask why? 

For those old enough to remember, that was the question posed

in a television commercial in a bygone era, and one that should

be asked again today.

But the problem with asking why is that it presupposes you’ll

actually think.

And, hey, why do that? 

It’s so much easier to follow the crowd.

That’s what Holman W. Jenkins Jr., writes about in one of his latest

columns in The Wall Street Journal. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324634304578539453974685238.html)

That journalism suffers from a lack of mental dexterity or that

people are more easily swayed by their emotions or habits they

picked up from their parents and ancestors– anything but their brains!

– in deciding their votes or other important issues should come as no surprise.

After all, if your parents were Democrats, you’ll likely be one, too;

the same goes for Republicans. 

Religious beliefs are similar.  If you were brought up Catholic, you’ll

likely be one as an adult; and the same holds for every other religion.

It’s easy to simplify problems.  All we need is demon and a solution.

The fact that medical care is expensive is the demon.  The easy

solution – as brought to us by Congress and President Obama -- is to

make health insurance affordable and, thus, accessible to all. 

The fact that healthcare, as provided by the doctors and

the nurses, might suffer is not something you should think about.

And, whatever you do, don’t think about basic economics and the

fact that, at any time, you introduce a third-party payer – as the

current health care system is set up – the provider of any service,

medical care included, is given the ability to raise their prices, thereby

making healthcare unaffordable to anyone who doesn’t buy a

health insurance policy.

Or the fact that insurance companies, forced to cover any and

all illnesses, might compel some doctors to leave the system so

they're able to only accept private money for their services

isn’t something you should worry about either.  

The easier thing, instead, is to go along with the people who have

a complication to solve the complication.  It comes to us as the

Affordable Care Act, which, essentially, sells us to the health

insurance industry. 

Which means, other than allowing you to buy health insurance,

nothing’s been resolved.

But don’t think about that.

A better solution – if someone really wanted to lower the

doctors’ fees, hospital prices and drug prices – would have

been to eliminate insurance companies.

But that would have been too radical.

And since you’re struggling with basic thinking, Senators,

Members of Congress and the President know you can’t

handle hard solutions that require arduous thinking.

If everyone in the healthcare industry was forced to compete on

price – like the car companies are – drugs and doctor visits

wouldn’t cost nearly as much. 

Sure, there would some high-priced doctors and hospitals just like

there are high-priced cars and houses.  Those on the high end

would sell better service.

At the lowest tier, doctors charging far less would offer economy care.

And most doctors would likely fall somewhere in the middle for things

like physicals and urgent care.

But, hey, why think? 

It’s so much easier to leave that to someone else.