Medicare is a relative newcomer to the American scene. It was created in 1965 as part of the Great Society legislative machine of President Lyndon Johnson. The program was packaged as a"right" that all were entitled. The costs and the mission creep of what procedures would be covered was never thought out.
When does an entitlement contribute to or cause poverty?
The bureaucrats over at Health And Human Services are weighing yet another procedure to include as a "right" under Medicare law. This procedure is for an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. If approved, they estimate 50,000 patients will be covered in the first year. The procedure costs $35,000 each. The cost for the first year is $175 million.
The poverty level in America is $ 18,000 annual earnings for a family of 4. We have about 36 million people living in poverty. Consider this. If we didn't make the new procedure a "right" and left it up to individuals to provide for themselves this new defibrillator the governtment would not have to tap $175 million from our economy or borrow it from abroad. That would result in helping 9800 families in poverty ($175 million divided by 18,000 ) better able to find jobs and lift themselves out of poverty or prevent others from falling into poverty. One of the main reasons we lose jobs overseas is because of the high coast of manufacturing in the America. Health care costs are a large part of this problem.
We live on a zero sum planet. Choices will be made by us that are sustainable or will be made for us by the laws of nature.
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