Medicare Guarantee

"They end the Medicare guarantee," said top Budget Committee Democrat Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. "They force seniors to leave the Medicare program and go into the private insurance market where costs continue to rise day in and day out."

I don't understand. I thought the idea that things generally get more expensive as time goes on was pretty elementary. We actually hope for this when it comes to property values. If we manage our finances properly our investments will keep pace with inflation.

Does our federal government owe anything to those who have been forced to participate in the Medicare scam? Yes it does. Can it actually deliver what it promises? No.

I recently watched the TV show Out of the Wild (I love NetFlix streaming). The show takes regular folks and drops them into the Alaskan wilderness with a map and various supplies (after some basic wilderness survival training). For the most part it is typical extreme reality TV programming, but one part was especially interesting. In the beginning they took EVERYTHING they found, including a small guitar, a wooden box, a and canoe paddle. As they started hiking back to civilization they soon realized that there was a cost to each item they carried. At first some of the stronger ones carried more of the heavy items, but that soon took a toll on them, and all agreed that they couldn't afford to carry everything. Eventually even items as useful as a rifle were left behind because the cost was too great. There was nobody but them to carry the weight.

We have a similar situation with our federal budget, there is a cost to everything we carry. The difference is that politicians have made a career out of using their ability to tax and spend to force some to carry heavy items that benefit only those the politicians allow to benefit. This social engineering has consistently failed to improve the character of our nation, it only creates class warfare that will eventually destroy it.

"No matter what they say, the fact is the GOP wants to finance their tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires by hiking prescription drug prices for seniors." - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Drug prices for all of us, regardless of our age, will go up over time. The only way for these prices to be artificially low for seniors is for the rest of us to carry the weight. Many of us believe it is good and right to carry this weight for others, but the federal government should not be forcing us to do it. Furthermore, the federal government is extremely inefficient at managing social programs. Fraud is rampant in the Medicare system (estimated to total about $60 billion a year in 2009) with only 5% of all claims being audited. The present value of unfunded obligations under all parts of Medicare during FY 2009 over an infinite horizon is approximately $36 trillion. In other words, this amount would have to be set aside today such that the principal and interest would cover the shortfall assuming the program continues indefinitely.

What does this all mean? Well if the hikers in Out of the Wild had acted as we are, they would have eventually all died before they could get help. The cost of bearing the weight of all those items would have caused them to burn a lot more calories, increasing their need for food and possibility of injury. We are already seeing the signs of exhaustion in our nation, yet we continue on in a self destructive direction, shifting more of the weight to others and doing less to carry our own.