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Health Care Reform
(Editorial revision and Footnote added March 9, 2001)
| Popular concern and demand for universal and long-term health care, including HMO reform, never existed before 'socialist' administration of federal government assumed control over the medical profession in the U.S., beginning in the 1960s. Socialist control of 'health care' began with introduction of the Medicare program in the 1960s, under the 'socialist' administration of then (the 'Great Society') 'socialist' President Lyndon B. Johnson. NOTE: High inflation of U.S. $dollars, beginning and enabled by the Bretton-Woods Agreement Act of 1945, to finance cost of reconstruction of countries of Europe and Asia devastated by World War II, forced beginning of the transfer of manufacturing out of the U.S. (out-sourcing), to countries of Europe and Asia. In the early and middle '60s, IBM found it could no longer afford the cost of its own manufacturing labor - therefore, the IBM Federal Systems Division (now defunct) built a factory in Hongkong in the middle and late '60s, to manufacture memory pages for the AP-101C computer used by the NASA Space Shuttle. It was during the early and middle '60s that the 'Rust Belt' of the once great industrial midwest (Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania) was caused to occur. Dis-continuance of health-care benefits by large and small U.S. manufacturing establishments began, as both large and small manufacturing companies of the U.S. began out-sourcing manufacture of 'product' to Europe and Asia. END NOTE From all of the above, 'Medicare' was introduced, to become the primary vehicle for replacement of industrial manufacturing company health care benefits, resulting in the injection of huge amounts of money by 'federal government banking and finance' into that market, causing current and future unaffordable high costs of medical and hospital care and insurance premiums. A predominantly 'socialist' Congress (beginning in the 1930s) reacted to unaffordable health-care 'costs' by becoming writers of medical insurance policies. If I were President, HMO insurance policies would be abolished. The U.S. Congress (the 'pimps' you elect to seats in the U.S. Houses of Prostitution) must be removed from un-constitutional authority to write health insurance policies. They must be removed from un-constitutional ability to inject huge amounts of money to subsidize the health care industry. That subsidy has functioned only to inflate the cost of health care. All of the above cites fundamental causes of the unaffordable costs of health care and health care insurance premiums. Restraining action is required to close the huge gap that exists between the high cost of medical care and medical insurance premiums, and the wage-incomes of our citizens. A corrective and restraining action plan to close this huge gap is described under the Medicare and Medicaid issue.
Bernard Palicki Footnote dated March 9, 2001: Effective April 2001, because I have no other choice, I have authorized IBM to begin deduction of $144.00/month from my IBM Pension, to pay for my current IBM Medical Insurance coverage. Quote: "At IBM, we continue providing access to health care coverage for eligible retirees, even though only about half of other large employers now do so and most in our industry do not, especially once employees become eligible for Medicare. ...as health care costs have risen dramatically in this country, IBM has had to ask employees and retirees alike, to share in the costs of their own health care coverage. ...some...will be asked for the first time to pay contributions toward IBM health care coverage you use to supplement Medicare. Others...are likely to see the costs for their current coverage increase. ...in the future, retiree health care contributions are expected to continue to increase." End Quote. Having spent the last twenty of my forty years on the private side of the aerospace and defense industry, performing cost-breakdown research and analysis for multi-million $dollar program and project control purposes, I cannot, in good conscience, fault the IBM Corporation for this decision, to my detriment, forced upon IBM and all of its employees and retirees, (as it is with all other private business structures), as a consequence of 'socialist' subsidy of the medical profession. (All of the above considered) As it once existed, even during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the 'medical profession', providing health care through the private practice of medicine, with privately funded hospitals and nursing care for humanitarian purposes, would never have become a 'socialist industry', had it not been for execution of the 'socialist' concept of federal government banking and finance 'subsidy' of the medical profession (through Medicare and Medicaid) and the pharmaceutical (prescription drug) companies. The only 'corrective action' that can be taken, to stop and decrease this currently un-controllable high cost of medical care, is to eliminate 'socialist' federal government banking and finance 'subsidy' of the 'private practice of medicine' and the 'drug' companies. E-mail challenge, comment or questions to Return to All Issues Menu Return to Home Page |