When considering that
Republican and Democratic Party politicians have put U.S. citizens in debt to
the tune of $14 trillion, the sum of $48 billion seems like chump change. Yet,
factor in the figure of $12.7 billion during a discussion on healthcare
insurance and something interesting is revealed.
The Government Accounting
Office recently released a report saying Medicare squandered $48 billion
through fraud and improper claims during fiscal year 2010, while the top 10
health insurers in the country made a combined $12.7 billion in profit.
Put another way, for every
combined dollar those evil private insurance companies made, the government
program lost $4 of taxpayer money.
As the GAO report said in its
opening statement, “Medicare remains on a path that is fiscally unsustainable
over the long term.”
The report also said its calculation
did not include those made in the Part D prescription drug benefit.
Making the numbers even more
interesting—and demonstrating how inefficient the government system is— is that
Medicare covers 47 million people while the private companies cover more than
200 million. Consider how bad things would be if a government healthcare
insurance program had to cover more than 300 million people.
The GAO considers Medicare
“high risk” because of complexity and susceptibility to improper payments and
said the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the agency that
administers Medicare, has not met the GAO’s five-point criteria for removing
the high-risk designation.
The nine-page report, “MEDICARE
Program Remains at High Risk…” can be found at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11430t.pdf
What all this boils down to is
that government programs are not efficient. They cost more than private sector
programs that do the same thing when those private sector businesses compete
for a profit based on a market share of voluntary customers.
Granted, governments can be
efficient at times. As the saying goes, Musssolini got the trains to run on
time, yet it’s unlikely that people here would want to live under Il Duce’s type
of fascist regime. Nor would they choose to live under the socialist regimes
that exist today in North Korea or Cuba where healthcare is free. Even Michael
Moore hasn’t moved to Cuba.
Programs such as Medicare and
Medicaid are well intentioned. Many of the supporters of Obamacare are
well-intentioned people. But, good intentions don’t make for good programs,
especially when those programs are not economically sustainable or otherwise
not within the proper purview of government.
The former Soviet Union wanted
to supply goods and services to its people and those of us who spent the bulk
of our lives experiencing the cold war likely recall the film footage of Soviet
citizens standing in long lines waiting to buy scant supplies of food and
toilet paper. That government failed from start to finish. Meanwhile, the free market here in the U.S.kept store shelves full.
There are legitimate functions
of government—police, military, courts—as it serves its only legitimate
purpose, protecting the rights and liberties of individuals—all individuals who
have not been found guilty of violating the rights of others.
Things go sour, badly so, when
a government violates that restriction. Good intentions won’t change that fact.
As is said, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
