Health care costs
#1
Posted 24 September 2007 - 04:45 PM
So when people pitch this idea, keep this in mind from the dealings by GM :
"For GM, the transfer of about $50 billion of long-term health costs to a trust managed by the union is critical to a positive outcome.
GM, fighting to defend market share that's under siege from foreign automakers, insists it needs to get out from under crushing pension and health-care costs. For key competitors such as Toyota Motor Corp. those costs are often borne by national welfare programs in their home countries.
Such a move, if agreed, would save GM about $3 billion a year. It was not clear how much money GM would contribute to the trust, which in turn hinges on other aspects of the overall labor contract. "
#2
Posted 25 September 2007 - 12:51 AM
#3
Posted 25 September 2007 - 06:36 AM
Mark S Young
Wall Street Sentiment
Get a free trial here:
http://wallstreetsen...t.com/trial.htm
You can now follow me on twitter
#4
Posted 25 September 2007 - 07:04 AM
#5
Posted 25 September 2007 - 07:33 AM
Mark S Young
Wall Street Sentiment
Get a free trial here:
http://wallstreetsen...t.com/trial.htm
You can now follow me on twitter
#6
Posted 25 September 2007 - 08:30 AM
#7
Posted 25 September 2007 - 09:06 AM
Mark S Young
Wall Street Sentiment
Get a free trial here:
http://wallstreetsen...t.com/trial.htm
You can now follow me on twitter
#8
Posted 03 October 2007 - 09:59 PM
FOR A CENTURY we have lived with the idea that things like education and health care were too important—and too complicated and expensive—for ordinary people to do on their own.
That’s why we have the government spending about 0.85 trillion dollars a year on health care and 0.75 trillion dollars a year on education. You could look it up.
Here’s a fearless prediction. We are going to have to give up the whole idea of government-run education and health care and go back to paying for it ourselves.
Because the only thing that a government can do—or should do—is run a war. Oh, and catch criminals.
Here’s libertarian John Stossel talking about Whole Foods and how they switched from a low-deductible health plan to a high-deductible health plan for their employees. They put the difference, about $1,500 a year, into Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) for their employees. HSAs are tax-sheltered accounts like IRAs. Writes Stossel:
CEO John Mackey told me that when he went to the new system, "Our costs went way down."
Most important, since employees control the money, their behavior changed. Whole Foods workers started asking "how much things cost," Mackey said.
Yes, but when people have to think about how much it costs before they go to the doctor won’t they skimp on health care?
Harvard Business School professor Regina Herzlinger says studies show that "people who have these high-deductible health-insurance policies take a lot better care of themselves. They have more yearly physicals. Because they’re saying, ’If I keep myself healthy, in the long run, I’m going to be spending less money.’"
Republican politicians dare not tell us this, and Democratic politicians will fight it to the last taxpayer, but you are going to be paying for your own health care in the future.
And my guess is that we’ll be paying for education as well.
And that’s a good thing. Because the most soul-destroying thing in America today is the K-16 compulsory bums-on-seats government education system. If we had to pay for education, we’d be out of there in a flash.
Why spend money on stuff you don’t need and don’t like?
http://www.roadtothe..._education.html
Defenders of the status quo are always stronger than reformers seeking change,
UNTIL the status quo self-destructs from its own corruption, and the reformers are free to build on its ashes.