I am going to try and zero in on each of the four changes that are mandatory if we expect to maintain our place as a leader of developed nations.

The first one has been beaten to death for over a year. Skyrocketing health care costs have reached a level that will continue to wreck our economy unless the cost is reduced to a level that folks can afford. Everyone seems to focus on how to fund the increasing cost rather than reducing it. They keep trying to work the revenue side of the ledger when they should be focusing on the cost side. Just remember that while premiums increased over 120 percent the last 10 years, inflation was 40 percent and wage increases were less than 30 percent for the same time frame.

It should be obvious to everyone after hearing that health care costs reached a level of 17.5 percent of GDP (total economy) in 2009, that the present system is totally unsustainable as it exists today. An article in our local paper today should only reinforce that we are headed for a problem more serious than we can possibly realize unless we change the system.

The article was about California’s largest for- profit health insurer being asked to justify plans to increase customers’ premiums by as much as 39 percent. Read that again — increase by as much as 39 percent. The Health and Human Services Secretary was asking for a detailed explanation to the public. She was asking them how much of the premiums go to medical services versus administrative costs such as bonuses, opulent buildings, etc. It was reported that Anthem Blue Cross’ parent company, Well-Point Inc., has seen its profits soar, earning $2.7 billion in the last quarter of 2009 alone. Employer-based insurance and group policies are expecting 10 to 20 percent increases in the next year.

Are we just so arrogant or dense that we cannot understand that this single issue is responsible for a large part of the reason that our jobs are going elsewhere and our economy is in the tank with unemployment real numbers of 15 to 16 percent? Are we so prideful that we cannot accept that other countries are controlling their costs much better with reported equal to better quality of care? Do the lobbyists with so much money from the health care industry have so much power over Congress that they can stop all efforts to fix one of the most serious problems of our time?

This will be redundant but, will we continue to be the only nation that 51 percent of all bankruptcies are the result of a medical problem? Will we continue to be the only developed nation where you can lose everything just because you are unfortunate and get sick?

Let’s talk about it from a practical manner. Just suppose you are in the group that must purchase your own health insurance and earn $50,000 a year as an example. If you are single today, your health insurance would probably cost you $6,000 to $7,000 a year. A family could end up $12,000 to $13,000 a year. Another 20 percent increase means an additional $1,200 to $1,400 per year for a single person and $2,400 to $2,600 for a family. Suppose your employer provides health insurance for his employees as about 58 percent do, down from 70 percent several years ago. Your individual premiums would be lower, as your share is only a portion of what is being paid.

Now, I want you to think about these examples and think about how this money going into paychecks could help us retain and create more jobs. History has shown it to be truism that when health care costs are held in check that wages increase. The pie is only so big and the size of the wedge for wages or benefits does not change the size of the pie. Wage increases mean more homes, cars, refrigerators and household goods. It means more money for children’s education, and most important, it means more jobs. Yes, it means more jobs.

We need politicians that will insist that we investigate all the developed nations such as France, Germany, Japan and little Taiwan. I only mention Taiwan because they made the conversion to universal care from having only 50 percent of their folks’ insured to having all of them insured. These countries are not all wrong, and when we spend 17.5 percent of our total national economy versus their 8 to 10 percent spending, we should have enough humility to take a look.

We have to break the strangle-hold that the lobbyists have on our Congress, or accept that our standard of living is going down.

Vote the incumbents out who created this mess. Next week let’s talk about lobbying and lobbyists.



James Rippy is a former manager of what is now Continental Tire North America in Mt. Vernon and has authored a book titled “Executivitis.” E-mail him at rippyj@charter.net.