Quirky thoughts from an old man.
“If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it is free.” P.J. O’Rourke Today I am officially a Medicare Two Digit Midget. It is now less than 100 days until my 65th birthday and my turn at the medicare buffet. Since I’ll be getting there before most …
The annual federal deficit is lingering at about a trillion dollars. Yes that is Trillion with a “T”. I have a way to solve a big part of this problem. Cut the pay and benefits of all federal employees about 10%. This would save the federal govt. about 200 billion a year. (see the math …
Liberals want to raise taxes on the “rich” to balance the budget and keep spending. Conservatives want the government to balance the budget by “cutting services for other but not for me.” I propose that we have a new entertainment tax on media companies. Lets make it one percent of all revenue at all media …
Today I celebrate just 400 more days until I get to the Medicare Buffet. I can’t decide yet whether I will get the hip replacement or the bypass surgery first. But one thing is for sure. America can’t afford my (and the other 70 million baby boomers) medical bills. I’m just glad I’m near the …
Peggy Noonan wrote a great article in the Saturday WSJ about the Tea Party movement and the unease many American feel about the “ruling elite.” Revolt of the Accountants It made me think of a bigger issue that doesn’t get much play. The accounting rules for future obligations allow governments and corporations to make promises …
In exactly 800 days I will be eligible for the medicare buffet. I and about 3 million others will become eligible in 2012. My hip is starting to hurt but I can wait and so can the rest of my cohort. But rest assured that we will all be lining up for new knees …
One of the critiques of ObamaCare has been its proposal to use review panels to allocate medical resources to areas where the payoff would be best. On a micro scale this used to be called triage and it makes perfect sense. In Viet Nam when incoming wounded were overwhelming the medical staff on duty at …
In the upper right hand side of the blog page just below the picture is a countdown timer that says: “SIMON JOINS THE MEDICARE BUFFET IN ___ DAYS” This clever graphic is now also a link to my healthcare musings. Matt G installed it and you will make him very happy if you click on …
When I was in the army many of my fellow enlisted men kept “short-timer calendars.” When you went under 100 days until you got out of the army (or Vietnam) you could call yourself a “two digit midget.” Well time have changed and the much anticipated event now is getting to the Medicare Buffet. Today …
One of the arguments about health care reform is that if the government pays they will ration what is available. This is certainly the case in the UK as this story in the October 8th Daily Mail shows: The NHS is the UK’s National Health Service and they are not going to allow doctors to …