Strange sounding title and I think I used something like it before. It is not a misspelling. I did not mean "challenging education". I mean it in a way that we can do some major cost cutting and improve our economic efficiency. Medical is about the worst area regarding cost. If the cost of medical care continues to increase at this rate, the end is clear. We are going to be bankrupt. Before I get going, I would like to point out a few statistics. We rank #33 in life expectancy and yet we spend the most on health care. We rank #24 in education and we spend the most on education. Are you starting to get the message? Rather than just complaining, I like to get at the root of the problem and see if I can figure out a way that we can correct the problem. Now, I am just going to take on the two areas of Medical cost and Education cost. Ready?
This may be a slight repeat, but bear with me. There are just four main drivers of medical cost. There are a few more, but there are only four big ones and that is where we should put our efforts. Do you know what they are? Here is my list.
(1) Cost of producing a doctor.
(2) The years that it takes to produce a doctor and the years that they work to pay the cost back
(3) The cost of excess testing and the cost of treatments
(4) Poor health practices of Americans
If you don't agree with my list, give me your's.
First, the cost to produce a doctor. Figure that a doctor goes to school from age 5 to about 35 to become a doctor. With a little 4th grade math, we find that adds up to 30 years. I think that I did this in a prior blog, but what do you think the total cost of that education is if the same money were put in the bank at 3% or 4% interest until the person was 35 years old? I know that you could do the math if you really wanted to, but it is in the millions. Hey, that is what a doctor costs us and I mean us because much of the cost was paid by you the tax payer. If you were to go one step farther and adjust for the alternative that the person could have gone to work earning some money at age 18 to age 35, you would see that the "delta" cost is much higher. Starting to get the point. Before I propose my solution, I want to go thru the other drivers.
Second point is this business of taking so many years of a person's life to train them to become doctors. This time is not for free. There is the cost per each year, plus the compounding of that cost until the time when it can start to be paid back. I pointed out above how this impacts the cost to become a doctor and the higher rate that a doctor has to charge to "get back" the cost of their education. If tax payers paid all the cost, it would not make any difference. Rather than pay the high hourly rate for the doctor, you would be paying the same amount in higher taxes. Again, there is no
free lunch. Most doctors who I know are not planning on working to age 65. They have worked much harder than most of us since age 5 and now want to have a little fun. Wouldn't you? If they work to age 60, that means that they have to earn enough in just 25 years to pay off the cost that they incurred in 30 years, Starting to see the problem.
Third we have the high cost of tests. I related the story about a bladder infection where the medicine only had a cost of $14.00 and the doctor visit and testing had a cost of over $250.00. My bill was a total of $254.00 plus the loss of my time. I could have just as easily gone to my local pharmacy and bought the medicine for $14.00. I had the same condition before and knew exactly what I had. I could have gone on the Internet and figured out what I had for free. I had a similar case where I was bitten by a tick and had they symptoms of Lyme's disease. Again, the medicine only had a cost of $14.00, but the doctors wanted to see me twice, once to take blood and again to prescribe the medicine. It would have cost me at least $500.00 if I had played by the rules, but I was wise enough to ask my doctor when I had the bladder infection to allow me to "refill" the prescription. That one step saved me $500.00. This might be a fine point, but even if the government program paid the $500.00, in the end it would have still cost me the same $500.00. Remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch!!!
Finally, how people take care of their own health. There is not dought that we are the fattest people in the world and thus have more health problems related to being over weight than any other country and we are getting fatter. Look at young kids between ages 5 and 18. You have to look hard to find one that looks healthy. Can you just imagine the number of ankles and knees that will be replaced in the future? How about AIDS or drugs? We buy more than any other country in the world. How about glue sniffing? It is a lot worse now with kids getting into even more dangerous things. Getting shot at some movie is not what we have to be worried about, it is the poor health practices of our population.
Well, that's it. I did not even get to education so it looks like I am going to have to break this blog up into section. In my next blog, I will show you how we can change this and it has nothing to do with who is president or if we have Obama care or not. Don't think so? Well, tune in and find out.
PS-------------
The fact that most people think they are paying their medical bills with someone elses money doesn't help. Even 8 year olds know the difference between spending birthday money and money that they have earned. More money chasing limited supply of services will make the price of anything go up and medical is no different. I could work on these points, but I have chosen to work on the "root" items.
