and now i present: US Healthcare

This one will be short and sweet.....

Today, on the way home from work, I heard a story saying that a group of major health care providers, insurers, device makers and drug companies have agreed to control their charges and, over the next ten years, charge 2 billion less than they would have if they continued at current rates. At first, this seems reasonable, and to most Americans, this is when they stop thinking about the issue. Anyone who has ever had any experience in business where they dealt with clients, budgets or accounts would know that a company never EVER works for free. What this tells me is that these companies had been gouging Americans for the last God knows how long and in todays economic times they think it prudent to give some back. DO NOT BE MISTAKEN, these companies are not doing this out of the kindness of their hearts, empathy for the common man, or even a few moments of good press, they are doing this so that they have a seat at the table when the administration begins hammering out health care reform. This was their price for admission. This was their price to sit at the right hand of.....the president. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN we have just witnessed how to buy your political agenda and steer the government down the path you want (Blogoyovich, you should be taking notes).

Some will say, "Its no big deal" or "Hey, what are you complaining about? They just saved Americans $2 billion dollars over the next 10 years" When you run the numbers presented in the press it works out to be an 8.7% savings in costs over that period. When you factor in the inflation we will be facing after all the checks and loans are given out because of our current downturn, it's a wash. To top things off, most of the programs they want to modify are public ones: streamlining billing to the sector of the population that most commonly defaults on medical bills (thats a smart one) and the lsit goes on....You want to do something useful, figure out why an MRI machine bought and paid for by a hospital 10 years ago still bills out at the same rate as one bought and paid for 2 years ago, and then tell me why an MRI in Japan would cost me less when i am out of network overseas than it would if I were in network here in North Carolina. Better yet, tell me why if I break my arm in New York and need a cast it costs a different amount for theoretically the same treatment then if I broke my arm in Utah?

Better yet, just give congress and the administration $2 billion, the opportunity for a sweet photo op in an otherwise gloomy time, and be sure to smile for the camera......