Thanks Mannfm for that eloquent post above.

What we have is racketeering; one must pay the insurance industry to keep the medical/pharma industry from financially breaking your kneecaps.

How does a people rid themselves of an entrenched corrupt predatory entity that's taken over their country's government and finances both ?

Where's Robespierre when you need him ?

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Where's Robespierre when you need him ?

Analog, he's DEAD, without his head attached - where I think ALL of Wall Street and most if not all of Capitol Hill should be for the ass-****ing they've given the American people (not to mention the world).

Hey, a man can dream can't he?

Friar Tuck wrote..

if enough pensioners die soon after retirement it wont matter.
mark my words
almost everyone you know above 50 will die by 60 of cancer, CAD,diabetes, or autoimmune maladys
anyone done the math on how many dead pensioners till solvency?

Putting the same government that "pays" retirement benefits in charge of health care is sheer madness. What's the incentive to keep you alive into your 90s?

you think the people at the top
of the CALSTRS and CALPERS buildings arent aware of karlito's math?
Whats the simplest solution? given the math....heck the prison guard union here in ca even uses the talking point "the average retiree only enjoys 4.7 years of benefits before dieing" ( or something to that effect) Enjoy those vaccines and gmo foods proles!
FREE flu shots daily at Walgreens!
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"Its easier to KILL a million people than it is to control them"
-z Big

Harley, this is a couple of years old but may give you an idea of where we stand at this point in time.

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Despite the most severe economic downturn in 80 years, healthcare spending in the U.S. rose an estimated 5.7 percent to $2.5 trillion in 2009, according to Medicare's actuaries. Even more alarming, the percentage of the GDP spent on healthcare jumped to 17.3 percent from 16.2 percent in 2008-the largest one-year increase since 1960. At the current rate of growth, healthcare costs are predicted to nearly double to $4.5 trillion in 2019. At that point, they will account for 19.3 percent-almost a fifth-of our GDP.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-4....

While I'm no expert on the topic, I would wager that health care spending as a percentage of GDP started its ascent around 30 years ago. I would personally like to see how much of this is spent on the treatment of mental disorders since it was in this time frame that you saw a label placed on and multiple medications developed for just about every single behavioral issue a person can have. In the last 10-15 years, you started seeing more of the the commercial ads for medications on TV. It's big business, big money, that's for sure.

I've always believed that the individual mandate was nothing more than a means to ensure an expansion in revenue flow. That way, you get the money from the people that pay their premiums, pay their deductibles and you still get money from the people that don't, regardless of whether you call it a tax, fine or fee.

"Friar is right. At some point the younger generation will figure out that there is a pretty quick and easy way to fix the entitlement and pension problem. Just kill the pensioners."

I expect the first to go due to the incoming insane energy rates as they shut down coal plants etc.. Fry in the summer or freeze in the winter.

Peter
I agree. I was hoping that an export tax might work better than lifting the reimportation ban, but having never worked in or around Pharma just didn't understand their business model. I think too many people see lifting the reimportation ban as a painless, quick-fix that can avoid systematic reform. I think you nailed it.

Colk55 - Thanks for the numbers.
If our GDP numbers are being grossly inflated by the healthcare costs, are politicians unwilling to pass Gen's reforms for fear of how it will impact GDP? I'm no chart wizard, but I bet a chart similar to Gen's GDP/debt charts that shows GDP without healthcare for the past 30 years would be pretty illuminating. Stack this on top of the GDP problems that we know will happen when the debt bomb finally blows up in our face and I'm afraid Gen may have been UNDERSTATING the impact of all of this.

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Gen may have been UNDERSTATING the impact of all of this

We're all kinda hoping GDP doesn't deflate 50%+.