Monday Morning Haiku

A joke was said to
someone with no sense of hu -
-mor. Now we suffer.

Dear Governor of Rhode Island

As a gay citizen of the United States, I am appalled at your latest decision vetoing legislation granting gays and lesbians funeral rights to their deceased partners. You say it should be up to the voters, but we both know what the voters will say, won't we? Especially if Maine and the other 30 states are any indication.

But are you not, sir, suppose to defend ALL citizens, not just the ones who would vote for you? As a gay man in the south, I can tell you how vicious people are towards me and others like me, including members of my own family. The law does not protect me and my relationship from them. I can be barred from my future partner's funeral or him from mine; our home can be taken from us; our hospital can deny us visitation.

In America. This happens in America, supposed Land of the Free.

You are suppose to protect ALL citizens, Governor Carcieri, not just the ones you like, not just the ones you prefer, and not just the ones who are exactly like you.

For I and every other gay and lesbian person are citizens of the United States of America. And as such, we deserve the same respect, recognition, and protection as every other citizen of this great country.

One day, you will see that this decision was wrong, hateful, and thoroughly un-American.

Your Saturday Morning Cartoon

Maine, WTF?!

Only in a failed republic would citizens rejoice at the removal of rights from their fellow citizens.

Has this what America has become, folks? That the majority of our citizens enjoy the sight of a targeted group of people continuously being marginalized? That we have members of our society say, without any sense of irony, that "marriage is now safe in Maine" when the divorce rates still skyrocket? Saying "our children are now safe" when they're involved continuously in nasty custody battles where straight couples use them as legal leverage? Wasn't there a verse, dear Christians, about removing the plank from your own eye before tending to someone else's?

I am heartbroken by Maine's loss, because just like California, rights that were granted by our government have been stripped by our fellow citizens. I am heartbroken because next will be New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Iowa, undoing all the progress we made this year. I am furious because our chicken-shit president stood by and did NOTHING, despite the promises he made to the HRC a month ago.

But most of all, I'm tired. I'm tired of justifying myself every single election year. I'm tired of having my life put up to a popular vote. I'm tired of lies being told about me and others like me. I'm tired of being told that my relationship would never be on the same level as, say, Bill O'Reilly's.

I'm tired of being told I shouldn't care about marriage. Well you know what? If it's not such a big damn deal, then you, who are married, should get divorced right now. Still live together, still love one another. Just don't be married. Of course, you'll have to change your wills, life and health insurance policies, bank accounts, house deeds, car titles, next of kin........oh. I guess marriage *is* a big deal, huh?

All of my life, I've been told I'm nothing of value: from kids in school, from family members, from churches, and from government. And for a while, I believed them. I believed that because I was different, because I was weird, that it would be better for me to not exist anymore. I couldn't foresee my life being worth living because so many people fucking hated me.

I hope none of you have ever felt that way, because it is a truly horrific way to grow up: to love Jesus only to be told He hates you; to love your extended family only to be told they hate you; to reach out to your classmates only to be ridiculed. Gay teenagers commit suicide not because they feel there's something wrong with them, but that they believe they will never find happiness amidst all this hate that surrounds them.

And if you have contributed in any way to the marginalizing of someone else, shame on you.

The Gays Are Coming! The Gays Are Coming!

I fear that Maine is going to be California Prop 8 all over again. The tired argument of "Your small children will learn about gay marriage in pre school!" is working once again. Never mind the measure has NOTHING about public education in it. And never mind the irony of a predominantly Christian base lying to get what they want. Homosexuality may be an abomination, but "Thy shall not bear false witness" is a freakin' Commandment, people.

Source: http://www.dailykos.com/statepoll/2009/10/28/ME/412

Happy Hump Day!

Remember, slow and steady wins the race. Happy Hump Day!!!

Monday Morning Haiku

Boss is setting new
goals. Mine is doing his wife.
He won't like that goal.

Happy Hump Day!

This Guy Might Almost Get Me Back In Church

Gains in Maine

Link: http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2009/10/looking-at-gay-marriage-polling.html

Opponents of gay marriage are gaining ground in Maine thanks to ads stating that gays are threatening the poor, defenseless children. It's a tactic that worked in California and I fear will work in Maine. Never mind the immense lack of logic behind it: there's no measure to teach kids about homosexuality in the schools. It's the evil gays coming to eat the kids like Hansel & Gretel. As if simply knowing about homosexuality will convert them all. Silly Christians, tricks are for kids.

More to the point of irony, most of the Maine kids probably already know about homosexuality because of the Maine vote. In fact, if the anti-gays didn't make such a fuss, it's possible that gay marriage, most likely not even 5% of all Maine marriages, would've slipped underneath a pre-schooler's radar.

Now the question remains how to fight back against these illogical, irrational fear tactics. I wish I knew. I don't understand people who are more afraid of homosexuals than they are of terrorists. To me, they resemble Henny Penny: the sky is falling! the sky is falling! And we all know how terribly bright chickens are...

Suck It Up

A reader wrote in to the Daily Dish on the Atlantic. Here is my eloquent response:

"The sperm and the egg have created everything."

Really. I guess this reader forgot about asexual organisms that split. No screwing going on there. And the origins of the universe are still vastly unknown, but thus far, I have not heard a scientist claim that the universe began by a powerful cosmic male/female fucking (despite it being named The Big Bang). In fact, outside the planet earth, the sexes, as far as we know, don't exist.

See, this kind of crap pisses me off. It's a limited view: well, on EARTH, male/female relationships dominate; therefore, the entire universe must deem them superior. But outside of this planet and outside of this solar system, there's no evidence that there's male/female at all.

"It can only ever be a ghostly comparison of heterosexual love."

Again, regulating love to that of procreation. Well once a straight couple is infertile, either by age or design, I guess THEIR love is a ghostly comparison of all those fertile, virile couples. Therefore, all our grandparents' relationships are hardly even worth a mention. Despite the fact they raised children and grandchildren together, suffered through economic hard times (my grandparents went through the Depression), and disease (they both died of cancer). But the fact that they couldn't get knocked up anymore complete invalidates ALL of that sacrifice and love.

"Accept your cross, and bear it with dignity."

And just what exactly does he/she think we've been doing for the past 30 years? We've come out of the closet, lived our lives openly and honestly in the face of self-righteous, judgmental jackasses like this reader. It takes a hell of a lot of courage and dignity to live as gay/bi/transgendered, especially if you live in a place like the South (as do I). I have had more atrocious things said to my face than this smug reader probably ever has, and I have responded with dignity and grace (usually "I forgive you"), and he/she has the NERVE to say I need to have MORE dignity and grace?!

This is what I have to say to this reader: "I hope you put your skewed up morals where your mouth is, and get knocked up as many times until the body can't take it anymore. You should pay for 15 kids to go to college and be broke for the rest of your life. Hey, no whining! The universe blessed you as it has cursed me. My cross is to be biologically inferior; your cross is to put up with a house full of screaming kids that demand time, money, and energy until the day you die. And if you're not willing to bear that cross, then perhaps YOU need to go suck a dick."

What She Said

I did not attend the rally in Washington, D.C. yesterday, and I am aware that many dismissed the gathering (including the White House). And to those who wonder why gay marriage is so important, who wonder why Don't Ask Don't Tell is offensive, who think that gay people should just shut up already because it's not that big a deal to have a cake and two matching rings, here is a response by (of all things) an actress, Ms. Cynthia Nixon. I couldn't have said it best myself:

"Our right to marry is of paramount importance ,whether you as an individual gay person listening to me right now, want to get married now or ever. It is important because when a country has different laws for different categories of people, it sends its population a message. That the different group of people with lesser rights are somehow inferior, and less deserving of respect, and in fact, not wholly human. And that message is heard loud and clear by the worst elements of our society. It instructs them that if they are looking for someone to bully or beat or even kill, if they are looking for someone vulnerable to pray upon, gay people are a ready target.

"And that is why this movement is not just about our ability to get married, it's not just about our ability to have a party, it's not even about our ability to stand publicly and announce our love to the person we want to spend the rest of our life with. It's about demanding equal rights, equal responsibilities, equal opportunities, equal treatment, and equal protection under the law so that we can herald in a day when no parent will ever have to endure what our next speaker has endured. ladies and gentlemen, Judy Shepherd [the mother of Matthew Shepherd]."

If our government separates its citizens in terms of the law, they are making a statement about the people it has divided. It singles those out and, whether intentional or unintentional, labels them unworthy, undesirable, and un-American. I'm tired of being told I'm a political eyesore, that I'm not worth a mention from a fearful President, that I'm not good enough to serve my country, that I'm the target of redneck police departments that want to have some fun at my expense....I have been told all my life from others that I am nothing but a sissy worthless faggot whose only value is being a punching bag, an object of ridicule, an object of hate in the name of Jesus Christ. I have had it up to goddamn here.

I am a tax paying, law abiding, contributing member of the United States of America. And I refuse to be told I'm less than any longer.

Monday Morning Haiku

Staff meeting today

It's someone's birthday. There's cake

and singing. Oh Jesus...

Monday Morning Haiku

Caught in a speed trap

Cop laughed at my misery

At least it's raining.

An Uplifting Quote

Since I'm such a cynic, I can't be trusted to write a truly inspirational post. Therefore, I shall refer to Gandhi, who said the following:

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall -- think of it, ALWAYS."

The cynic in me responds with, "Ironic that he himself was murdered." And yet, his words live on. As does Martin Luther King's, as does John Lennon's, as does Jesus Christ's. So Gandhi was right: murderers have killed the messengers but not the message. Let's keep passing this message on.

Your Friday Morning Muppet

Happy Hump Day!!

May you all have a massive hump this day!

Meet The Fancy Man

Ladies and germs, meet Guido Westerwelle, a German Free Democrat who will become the vice-chancellor and won the Free Democrats' first major office in over 11 years. It should be noted that he supports the war in Afghanistan, limited government, and fiscal responsibility. Oh. And he's gay. Openly gay. Flamboyantly gay. And nobody in Germany really cares, because it's the politics that make the politician and the values that make the man...not who he sleeps with. Why can't America, the supposed leader of the free world, think like that?

Monday Morning Haiku

Worked on Saturday.

Boss asked if I had a good

weekend. He's an ass.

Bride Wars

Random Thought: If gays can't get married, then brides should stop having their bridal showers at gay clubs. Reveling in pre-marital bliss in front of the "have not's" is a little....rude, don't ya think?

God Rewarded David With Hot Women

But apparently, God does not reward women with hot men. After all, that would be recognizing women's sexuality (which is unclean) and we can't have that.

This quote is from Jason Mattera, head of the (cult) group Young America Foundation, at the Values Voters Summit:

"If conservatives (David) smite liberals (Goliath), they will be rewarded with the hot conservative women, just like King Saul promised his daughter to the warrior who slew the evil giant. “You know his daughter must have been beautiful because there’s no guy whose gonna die for an ugly girl,” Mattera chortled. “Our women are hot. We have Michelle Malkin. Who does the left have, Rachel Maddow? Sorry, I prefer that my women not look like dudes.”

And apparently, according to Mattera, David took "pride in his Christian beliefs.” Never mind that David lived a few thousand years before Christ. After all, history, like science, is a thing of the Devil. The speakers at the Values Voters Summit said that separation of church and state was a creation of Hitler, not the Founding Fathers, that gay rights activists have complete disregard for black women, unlike, say, the Young American Foundation, (who, in all their deliberating on human rights, never mentioned poverty, homelessness, or racism), and that abortions should be performed in the public square.

The prize speaker was one Lila Rose, who wore a "voluptuous red dress with a neck to thigh zipper in the back, and playfully tossed her long dark hair as she spoke." I'll bet you money she's slept around, but it's okay: she's on a mission from God and if you sleep with a woman who's on a mission from God, it doesn't count as sinful sex, but as holy sex.

Or some shit.

Seriously. This article scared the crap out of me. If these people gain any more of a foothold in this country, I may have to move, before they gather me and others like me into a boarded up boxcar and take me to the oven. You know...like Hitler.

Monday Morning Haiku

I sit in traffic
Coffee stain on my silk tie
Life has no meaning.

Vote No for No. 1 AGAIN

So the vote for gay marriage is close in Maine. Never mind that the state already decided issue, we have to allow the opportunity for religious people to spread lies and fear that the evil gays are gonna eat your babies and rape you in the ass, and have gay marriage revoked. This is further proof that 1) religion needs to stay the hell in the church (pun intended), and 2) people ARE NOT RATIONAL.

In Honor Of Hump Day

For those unaware, Seattle hosts an amateur porn movie contest every year. The deadline for submissions is coming up fast, so if you want to enter, visit their website for submission guidelines.

My favorite part of the guidelines are the extra credit (for you over achievers):

"A jury of local sex experts, sex-positive film critics, and sex-obsessed porn fans select HUMP! entries for inclusion in the festival. We look for hotness and humor-films don't have to be slick, just hot and/or funny-and entries that are made especially for HUMP! are likelier to make the cut. To prove that you made your film just for HUMP!, include one or more of these props and/or locations in your HUMP! submission:

PROPS

• a pink slip (layoff or undergarment)
• motorcycle boots
• Mormon undergarments
• e-stim unit
• Aplets & Cotlets


LOCATIONS

• the SLUT
• the P-I globe
• the Statue of Liberty at Alki Beach
• the giant mitt outside Safeco Field

Extra-extra credit for any film that uses all of the above. No one is obligated to include this silly crap in a new film."

Really? You like XYZ Guys?

The one thing I’ve noticed when discussing sexual attraction with others is that people view sex as either/or decisions. The obvious example is the attitude that you’re either gay or you’re straight. (Very few will acknowledge bisexuals or asexuals.)

Another example, in regards to race, was an incident that happened to me a year ago. (To understand the context, I am white.) I was at a gay bar and I saw this really cute, slightly dorky black guy with the wire rim glasses and a really great smile. Unfortunately, he was with somebody (ain’t that always the way?). I made a comment about how cute I thought he was to a friend of mine and his response was, “You like black boys? I didn’t think you liked black boys?” Then he spent the entire evening trying to scan out other African-American men for me.

The thing is, I wasn’t attracted to his race. The features about him that drew my attention were that great smile and that slightly dorky, nerdy vibe that others who dig dorky, nerdy guys know exactly what I’m talking about. He could’ve been Asian, Hispanic, Spanish, Middle Eastern, or White, and if he had those same features, I would’ve crushed on him.

But my friend now thinks I only want to date black guys. See? So many people in our culture (I refer to American culture) think that all sexual attraction is an either or proposition, especially in terms of race. And if you are attracted to someone outside of your own race, it’s almost seen as a fetish, as if it was something “special” or “unique.”

So the flip-side of “I don’t date XYZ” is “I ONLY date XYZ.” Either statement is limiting and is probably based on preconceived notions of race XYZ.

Kanye West Doesn't Care About White People!!! ;-)

Are you sad? Are you depressed? Do you feel the need to charge the stage every time a white person wins a frivolous award? Then you suffer from Kanye-ism. Symptoms include: delusions of grandeur, talent, and relevance, self-aggrandizement, and penis envy. Kanye-sim: proof that fame and money can't change ordinary trailer trash.

Monday Morning Haiku

I throw my alarm

clock across the room. My room

mate is unconscious.

Where's the alternative solution?

As if we didn't hear/read enough about it already...another post on healthcare! This is a web response I wrote to Joe Henke's blog on The Next Right, who gave a short post providing some alternative solutions to the current healthcare bill. I actually think the proposed two solutions were pretty good, though no one in Congress on either side of the aisle would vote for them. And being a right site, there were the usual Obamacare comments, which are getting tiresome, so I addressed them too. I'm sure my post will be blasted as I am a facist, socialist, commie who hates America (rolls eyes here).

Anyway, here's the post:

To the original author of this post, I agree. I think there needs to be a safety net for catastrophic healthcare. A degenerative disease like MS or cancer can deplete the savings of even some of the wealthiest citizens in the U.S. I do agree with Kordo though in that if a proposal like that were made, there would be a concession towards the poor of the country. I'm not sure if you could get around that nor am I sure that you would want to. If nothing else, it would perpetuate the stereotype that Republicans only care about the rich and don't give a damn about the poor.

Personally, I don't think the government is out of line when they require citizens to have health insurance. Most states require every driver to have auto insurance. I live in Tennessee, which is a no-fault state. You are required by law to have auto insurance if you drive a vehicle. The main goal being that insurance costs can stay down if mostly everyone is insured.

Having worked in healthcare billing, the 2 biggest costs to hospitals were 1) the uninsured, and 2) the patients who decided to file a frivolous lawsuit, either with the hospital itself or with a third party. In fact, I'd venture to say (he says facetiously) that if we got rid of the damn lawyers and uninsured, our healthcare system would be okay. (kidding....sort of...)

As far as having a free market...healthcare is not a free market, has never been a free market, and never will be a free market. All insurance prices are state mandated. All insurance companies make "contractual agreements" (i.e. bribes) to hospital systems to funnel their insureds to those specific doctors, hospitals, and labs (i.e. "in network"). If it were a true free market, don't you think that prices of medical services would be posted? (You just try to ask a doctor how much a lab test will cost, how much an MRI will cost). Where's the price competition? I haven't seen advertisements for hospitals that have more affordable emergency room services than the other guy, have you?

So for those bemoaning the loss of a free market system, you should've been crying over it in the late 60's, early 70's, because that's when the insurance companies took over our healthcare system, and they've been running ever since. So now the only choice that patients get to make is what insurance company they can have, and believe me, as a now full time student trying to get single payer private health insurance, ($3500 of my puny income has to be dedicated to my premiums and my deductible before my insurance ever kicks in), that's not much of a choice.

The only people who are benefiting from the current healthcare system are insurance companies. The hospitals aren't. The insurance companies are denying claims at a more frequent rate. They have a department of their company solely devoted to denying claims, which then makes it the patient's responsibility. Anytime we had to send a bill to the patient, it was considered a lost cause. Patients don't/can't pay the bill. So the hospitals write off bigger and bigger losses every year. And the patients declare bankruptcy, default on the medical debt, and drop/get dropped from their insurance carrier. Which then makes everyone else's rates increase and coverage decrease. This system doesn't work, plain and simple.

So while I don't agree with most aspects of Obama's healthcare plan (it still doesn't explain to me how it's going to pay for itself), at least it's a start. And I haven't heard a better alternative from the Right. The only things I've heard from the Right (as well as everyone else) is that Obama is Hitler incarnate, that we are now Russia, and the world is going to end.

So to all those on the Right, get your act together and come up with a counter proposal, like this author has, and add amendments to the current bill. But if you can't find any sympathy from the White House or from the voters, it's probably because you've been acting like jackasses for the past year. Oh....and get off Bill Clinton. You're just as bad as the liberals still trashing George W. Bush. George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were both lousy presidents and are no longer in power (thank god). Get over it. Move forward, please.

Signed,

The 25 year old who is paying for your Medicare and Social Security, and who will be paying your debt for the rest of his life.

Conservatives and the Environment

I'm surprised that true conservatives are not supporters of environmental issues. Yes, I know, no conservative wants to be associated with "go hug a tree" Al Gore. But in terms of economics, it is a vital issue. One of the basics of economic theory is that all natural resources are scarce. So wouldn't it be prudent of the conservative to use these scarce resources in the most effective manner possible? Wouldn't the conservative fight for the most efficient allocation of these resources? And yet we're thoughtlessly poisoning the air and water, ruining the land, and making far more garbage than we are useful products. To allow this to go on is simply not conservative.

Something else about natural resources: not only are they scarce, but once they're gone, they're gone. Man cannot cleanse the sky, man cannot recreate water, man cannot produce crude oil. To ignore the implications that we could have a fresh water shortage in the next 20-30 years is not only irresponsible, it's financially stupid. If industries are reliant on natural resources and they run out, the industry dies. Lost jobs, lost income, lost revenue, lost taxes. And yeah, I get it, you want to sell SUV's and people want to buy SUV's, and nobody wants the government to tell them what to do. But from the government's stand point, do you think that people are really going to stand for the rationing of fresh water? Rationing of electricity?

Want to talk industry? Fine, let's talk industry. Fishing is a multi-billion dollar industry. Yet we are constantly overfishing the oceans. For crying out loud, Florida had a scandal because they were passing off other types of fish as grouper because there simply wasn't enough to go around. The U.S. government combined the farmed salmon with wild salmon in an effort to get salmon off the endangered species list so that overfishing could continue.

These actions are done in the same of industry. But tell me this: what happens when we overfish to the point that there simply isn't enough sea life to sustain the demands of sea food?i.e. what if we run out? Then what? A multi-billion dollar industry disappears, including tourism for beach resorts. Restaurants across the world close, and a whole shit-ton of people are out of work all because we couldn't figure out a way to allocate our resources in the best way possible.

I am generally against government meddling in the ways of business. However, the government does have a stake in its own available resources and it is in that country's best interest to allocate and conserve them. That is what a true conservative's position should be. We should tax the shit out of the scarcest of resources (oil being one), which would give the market financial incentive to find other alternatives and resources.

Alas, the conservatives of this country have sold their souls to short-term thinking corporate interests and religious crazies, causing us to waste the natural resources we have at a rate that soon, we will be without them. Do you like having electricity? If the oil runs out, you have none. Do you like having fish for dinner? If the oceans are polluted to the point of danger, you have none. Do you like breathing? If the air is polluted past a certain point...well, you simply can't hold your breath long enough for the planet to fix it.

Morning Haiku

Tuesday after 3 day weekend haiku:

I cling to my cup

of Joe. I look at my bed

Who is that person?

Be Responsible, Get Tested!

An Old Econ Essay

This was an essay I wrote for my Macro-Economics class regarding healthcare. This essay cites a lot of Adam Smith, whom my teacher loved and with whom I disagree. But I thought it makes for some interesting reading. (I got an A on the paper so my logic is pretty solid.) Contrary to popular opinion, my paper does not advocate government run healthcare, but rather, government action through taxation that would allow businesses to offer healthcare benefits and to provide incentive for individuals to obtain and/or keep their health insurance benefits. Enjoy!

When Adam Smith describes the Invisible Hand as “the mysterious power, each working for his own gain, to promote ends that benefit many,” it seems that healthcare is the exception to the rule. There is a general consensus that the United States healthcare system is inefficient, inflated, poorly managed, besieged by unnecessary litigation (i.e. malpractice lawsuits), and insurance fraud on both sides of the operating table. Everyone, from the insurance carrier to the hospital, the employer and the employee, are working for their own gain in regards to healthcare, and all of them are losing. Having worked in medical billing, I can attest to health insurance companies conveniently “misplacing” claims until the timely filing deadline passes, and then denying the claim due to missed timely filing. I can also testify to the practices of lawyers, who use the insurance payments to maximize their own fees instead of paying off their client’s medical expenses. “Out of the seeming chaos of millions of uncoordinated private transactions emerges the spontaneous order of the market,” and yet, we see no clear coordination in U.S. healthcare. We see the exact opposite.

Healthcare is literally bankrupting the American citizen. According to a Harvard study, out-of-pocket expenses for those who filed for bankruptcy either partially or solely because of medical debt averaged to $12,000. That same study found that 50 percent of all bankruptcy filings in the United States were partly due to medical debt. 68 percent of those filers had health insurance coverage[i]. On the surface, it doesn’t make sense considering that insurance is supposed to shield the consumer from the majority of costs they could otherwise not afford. But from 1996 to 2003, out-of-pocket expenses rose from 37.3 percent to 43.1 percent[ii], and it shows no signs of leveling off or decreasing.

As a consequence, many people have decided that the cost of health insurance coverage is too high and choose to go without it. Their opportunity cost is emergency and preventative healthcare. This opportunity loss is doing more harm than good. Economists found that the increase in medical expenses correlates with the decrease in health insurance coverage[iii]. So while many people believe they are saving money by foregoing health insurance, they are actually contributing to the overall rising cost and, inevitably, to their own future medical debt. When health insurance companies lose paying customers, they have to decrease overall health coverage for their insured and simultaneously raise their rates to cover the loss. This leads to more lost customers, (which includes employers who offer healthcare coverage to their employees), who either cannot afford the rate increase or received medical care that is no longer covered or only partially covered. It’s a continuing cycle of lessening coverage and increasing premiums.

The effect on the economy is staggering. 25 percent of housing problems, including foreclosures, are caused by medical debt[iv]. Items normally considered to be inelastic are becoming more elastic. An Iowa survey saw that 44 percent cut back on their food purchases and heating expenses in response to medical charges[v]. It is now estimated that the retiring elderly will need at least $250,000 in savings just for basic medical care[vi]. Some experts even stated that the original number should be closer to $300,000. If dire medical attention is needed, those figures will obviously be inadequate. By the year 2017, the United States expects to spend $4.3 trillion on medical expenses. Healthcare spending would make up 20 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).[vii]

Reform is needed. The debate is centered on who will accept the majority of the responsibility for healthcare coverage: individuals, employers, or government? Typically, the healthcare burden was on businesses to provide coverage for their employees. According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, “Since 1999, employment-based health insurance premiums have increased 120 percent, compared to cumulative inflation of 44 percent and cumulative wage growth of 29 percent.” It is apparent that businesses can no longer afford to offer comprehensive coverage to the American worker. It is also apparent that the American worker cannot afford comprehensive coverage on his/her own.

Which leaves the United States government.

“…society through government first establishes a system of justice, to protect the poor and the rich”[viii] Adam Smith argues that the role of government is the preserver and protector of its citizens. Right now, many American citizens are facing a lifetime of debt due to medical charges. This is money that cannot be invested or spent in the U.S. economy. Our government obviously has an interest in maintaining our economy, and it would be to their advantage to alleviate this toxic situation. As Smith says in his own Wealth of Nations: “We appeal not to their humanity but to their self-interest, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.”[ix]

The government can use a Tax Change to increase the Short Run Aggregate Supply of Health Insurance by increasing disposable household income and higher post-tax profits for businesses who offer health insurance coverage to their employees. These combined should create a higher level of Aggregate Demand for health insurance coverage. The government must remain careful not to reduce the overall tax burden, as this would create an excess of demand, leading to inflation. This would be counter-productive.

But if the government can shift public perception regarding health insurance coverage, making “uninsured” the opportunity cost by simply increasing the short run supply of health coverage, then health insurance companies would be able to keep the needed number of customers to obtain the needed capital to cover their insured. Overall rates would decrease and coverage would increase, thereby reversing the current opposite trend. This would free up money otherwise tied up by medical debt, influencing savings, investments, and growth in the Long Run.

Adam Smith believed in placing morality in the marketplace. When business or government ignores morality, they could face a repercussion. All American citizens should have the ability to obtain and maintain some sort of healthcare coverage that will not devastate them financially. It is part of the government’s promise to keep them safe and secure. Right now, too many people are choosing medical insurance as an opportunity loss, which compounds the healthcare crisis. Government action can reverse this trend, giving an economic incentive to change the opportunity cost. Not only is it the correct economic decision, it’s also the just and moral one. As Adam Smith says, “What can be added to the happiness of the man who is in health, who is out of debt, and has a clear conscience?”[x]

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[i] Himmelstein, D, E. Warren, D. Thorne, and S. Woolhandler, “Illness and Injury as Contributors to Bankruptcy,” Health Affairs Web Exclusive W5-63, February, 2005.

[ii] Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Out-of-Pocket Expenditures on Health Care and Insurance Premiums Among the Non-elderly Population, 2003, March 2006.

[iii] The Henry J. Kaiser Foundation,. The Uninsured: A Primer, Key Facts About Americans Without Health Insurance. 2004. 10 November 2004 http://www.kff.org/uninsured/7451.cfm

[iv] The Access Project. Home Sick: How Medical Debt Undermines Housing Security. Boston, MA, November 2005.

[v] Selzer and Company Inc. Department of Public Health 2005 Survey of Iowa Consumers, September 2005.

[vi] Fidelity Investments, Press Release, March 06, 2006.

[vii] Keehan, S. “Health Spending Projections Through 2017”, Health Affairs Web Exclusive W146: 21 February 2008.

[viii] Wright, Jonathan B., Saving Adam Smith, Financial Times/Prentice Hall, November 2001.

[ix] Jenkins, Arthur Hugh, Adam Smith Today: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations, New York, 1948.

[x] Smith, Adam, Theory of Moral Sentiments

Happy Friday, everyone!

My old middle school friend makes an "Office" homage. Here is his newest episode and one of his funniest. A little laugh to start off your long weekend: