{"id":193,"date":"2009-08-06T13:22:23","date_gmt":"2009-08-06T20:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=193"},"modified":"2009-08-06T14:20:51","modified_gmt":"2009-08-06T21:20:51","slug":"are-people-getting-dumber-health-care-and-alternative-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=193","title":{"rendered":"Health Care, Alternative Energy and the Cost of Doing Nothing: Are people getting dumber?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t

Sometimes I think so.\u00a0 It can’t be true though.\u00a0 IQs are going up (Flynn Effect<\/a>).\u00a0 I do think people are uniformed, but certainly people have always<\/em><\/strong> been uninformed.\u00a0 With the Internet providing more information that we can ever\u00a0possibly wade though, and college attendance at an all time high, there is no excuse for being uniformed…moreso I believe that since all that information wasn’t even\u00a0available in the past that people are actually more<\/em> <\/strong>informed now that ever.<\/p>\n\t

So…people are smarter and more informed than ever.\u00a0 Why are they such idiots?<\/strong><\/p>\n\t

Hmm….well, maybe they are informed, but informed of the wrong information<\/strong> (which makes them seem dumb)?\u00a0 That is a hard hypothesis for me to get my head around since if I were also misinformed then me commenting on other people’s misinformedness would be making the problem worse.<\/p>\n\t

I know people are misinformed (including myself); however I know<\/strong> that; so not being an idiot might simply be knowing that you don’t know<\/strong>.\u00a0 A healthy skepticism (even of yourself) is not exactly inspiring, but it is a useful bullshit detector.<\/p>\n\t

I think people are apathetic<\/strong>.\u00a0 They may be relatively well informed and intelligent; they just don’t give a fuck.\u00a0 Republicans or Democrats?\u00a0 Why does it matter since they both pander, lie, and misrepresent?\u00a0 Fox or MSNBC?\u00a0 Doesn’t matter.\u00a0 They both spin.\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

You just give up maybe.\u00a0 After all, you still have to get out of bed in the morning…focus on what you can control.<\/p>\n\t

Anyway, my bullshit detector is stuck permanently on, so here you go:<\/p>\n\t

Health Care:<\/h2>\n\t

Lots of debate these days about this.\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

Spin: “National Health\u00a0Insurance will ration my care.\u00a0 There will be long lines.\u00a0 I’ll die on a government list waiting for my surgery.”<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

Fact:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Your health care will be rationed.\u00a0 HOWEVER, IT IS ALREADY RATIONED….by money<\/strong>.\u00a0 The rationing goes like this:\u00a0 If you have money, you get care.\u00a0 If you don’t have money, you don’t die\u00a0on a government list waiting for treatment, you die at home unable to even see a doctor<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\t

Why must health care be rationed?\u00a0 You can’t provide unlimited use of something and expect that it won’t eventually consume all resources.\u00a0 Everything is rationed in some way; most things are rationed by money (others by law, etc).<\/p>\n\t

So does that mean you will not receive some services that you want, or if you do, then you may have to wait?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 That is what it means; however, bear in mind that this is ALREADY the case.\u00a0 Public health care just changes the means of rationing.\u00a0 Besides, as shown below with life expectancy, rationing doesn’t seem to change health outcomes.<\/p>\n\t

Spin:\u00a0 We have the best health care in the world.<\/p>\n\t

Fact:\u00a0\u00a0People with money\u00a0have the best health care money can buy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On average we do not have the best health care in the world.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

In fact, we are 50th in the world in life expectancy<\/a>.\u00a0 Most\/All the countries in front of us have some sort of government supported health care and so must also\u00a0ration care in some form.\u00a0 Despite that (or perhaps because of it), they are in better health than us.\u00a0 Additionally, Cuba is 55th…with a life expectancy pretty much the same as ours (78 years).<\/p>\n\t

Why is life expectancy an important metric?\u00a0 Easy:\u00a0 Shouldn’t all health care improve health?\u00a0 Isn’t the\u00a0ultimate reason for being healthy to stay alive?\u00a0 You can argue about quality; however, quantity (life expectancy) is a good overall measure, and we are losing to other countries with socialized medicine.<\/p>\n\t

Spin:\u00a0 The Free Market will save us.<\/strong>\u00a0 The answer to all economic questions is capitalism.<\/p>\n\t

Fact:\u00a0 I can’t even begin to tell you how fed up I am with the free market religion.\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

Let’s talk about the\u00a0free market incentives for the health care gatekeepers<\/strong>:\u00a0 Insurance companies.\u00a0 Ultimately, whether you get health care or not (at least in the US) is about whether or not you have insurance.\u00a0 Try paying cash.\u00a0 You’ll go bankrupt.\u00a0 (The reason for this is beyond the scope of this article.)<\/p>\n\t

Here is how the free market is supposed to work (I’m self-selecting an example that shows free market incentives in a positive light):\u00a0 Mitsushiba (or any company) makes a TV.\u00a0 It is the best TV, but it is expensive.\u00a0 You don’t even really need a TV though; it is elective.\u00a0 You can do without.\u00a0 Still, Mitsushita is proud to offer an awesome TV at a good price, and they make a profit.\u00a0 They make the profit by selling you what you want (the ability to watch TV) for a price you are willing to accept (after all, there are other TVs and in the end\u00a0you didn’t HAVE to buy a TV at all).\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

Now let’s examine the incentives of the health insurance industry:\u00a0 HealthCon (or any company) sells health insurance.\u00a0 It is expensive, and you HAVE to buy it (unlike a TV).\u00a0 There are a few other alternatives (a handful of major players nationally), but their prices are all similar (expensive), so it doesn’t much matter which one you go with.\u00a0 They make a profit as well, but not by providing you with the service you want (health care) in exchange for the money you provide.\u00a0 They make a profit ONLY if they deny you the service you have paid for.\u00a0 Let me repeat that:\u00a0 Health insurance companies only make a profit if they don’t provide\u00a0health care<\/strong> (the very thing they are supposed to be in business for).<\/p>\n\t

In short, to argue that the free market can save health care is simply….misinformed.<\/p>\n\t

Spin:\u00a0\u00a0We need a limited public health option, if any.\u00a0 Any\u00a0public option that competes openly with the\u00a0private health insurance industry will eventually lead to nationalized medicine.\u00a0 (I’ve heard this poppycock many times as an argument against the public option.)<\/p>\n\t

Fact:\u00a0 Left unencumbered, the public option would indeed compete with private health insurance.\u00a0 Why is that an issue?\u00a0 Isn’t competition good?\u00a0 The only scenario under which a public option competing with private health insurance would lead to nationalized medicine is if private health insurance couldn’t compete (ie.\u00a0 people CHOOSE to go with the public option because it was cheaper or better).\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

By arguing for a restricted public option, private insurers are basically saying “We couldn’t compete with an open public option.\u00a0 It would drive us out of business.\u00a0 We couldn’t make a profit.”\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 I thought anything government-run was inefficient and wasteful and private industry would always beat it.\u00a0 I guess big business is all\u00a0for competition, as long as it doesn’t compete with them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\t

Also, there is no competition presently.\u00a0 Health insurance is\u00a0an oligopoly<\/a>…not much different in effect than an monopoly.<\/p>\n\t

Spin:\u00a0 Governments are inefficient.\u00a0 They make a mess of any market they enter.\u00a0 Private industry is superior.<\/p>\n\t

Fact:\u00a0 Let’s go one by one:\u00a0 “Governments are inefficient.”\u00a0 I agree they often are in practice, but that needn’t always be the case.\u00a0 If you look at admin costs as a\u00a0percentage of health care expenditures for other countries; theirs comes in below the US’s private industry number.\u00a0 Also, it is a little two-faced for the health care industry to argue that governments are inefficent; private industry’s inefficiency (bulging costs) is how we got in this mess in the first place.\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

“Government makes a mess of any market they enter”:\u00a0 Again, no.\u00a0 Think of the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act).\u00a0 People (of any age)\u00a0worked all day long in\u00a0terrible conditions before the government stepped in to regulate.\u00a0 Governments do make messes…..but so does private industry (think financial meltdown); again, it is two-faced to say governments mess up markets when the private industry also messes up markets even without government intervention…..which then requires large government bailouts on the taxpayer dollar.<\/p>\n\t

“Private industry is superior”:\u00a0 Taking my two examples above of\u00a0 TVs and Health Insurance, Private industry is good at providing TVs (when that set of incentives is in place), but bad at providing healthcare (the incentives are wrong).<\/p>\n\t

Spin:\u00a0 Public health care costs too much.<\/strong><\/p>\n\t

Fact:\u00a0Uhh…<\/p>\n\t

\"health_care_costs\"<\/a><\/p>\n\t

Public health care will cost too much?\u00a0 Seriously, it ALREADY costs too much.\u00a0 That’s why we’re having this conversation in the first place.<\/strong>\u00a0 If that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black.<\/p>\n\t

We already pay for it; we just don’t get anything out.\u00a0 If you mean public health care as it is in European countries, then it will cost LESS than it currently does.\u00a0 The reason we will never see that is that any system we put in place now will have to pander to the current system, so we’ll end up with some messy compromise.\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

Alternative Energy:<\/h2>\n\t

Alternative energy is important.\u00a0 Oil is not sustainable (nor are humans).\u00a0 We must make changes; however, some I think aren’t so well thought out.<\/p>\n\t

Spin:\u00a0 Biofuels are the future!<\/p>\n\t

Fact:\u00a0 If you mean turning corn, grass, or basically anything organically grown into fuel….its\u00a0a terrible idea<\/strong>.\u00a0 Food prices will rise worldwide as that land is used to produce fuel instead of food.\u00a0 Those billions of people worldwide who barely have enough to eat care far more about corn or rice than they do about whether we can drive our Priuses around using biofuels.\u00a0 You can’t eat a Prius.<\/strong>\u00a0 You can quote me on that.<\/p>\n\t

Spin:\u00a0 Batteries dude!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

Fact:\u00a0 Batteries are not power, they\u00a0store of power<\/strong>.\u00a0 I’m not arguing against more efficient batteries; I’m just saying batteries are not a substitute for oil….they are a complement.\u00a0 Oil produces electicity, which is stored in batteries.\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

To that end, oil itself can be thought of as a battery.\u00a0 It is storing power in the form of hydrocarbon bonds that we release to do work (eg. make energy, run cars, etc).<\/p>\n\t

The difference is that nature, in the form of oil, has already gathered the energy, already stored it in a fairly stable form.\u00a0 In the case of batteries, we still need to provide the energy as input.\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

Again, batteries are not an alternative energy; they are an alternative store of energy.<\/p>\n\t

Myth:\u00a0 Solar energy is the future!\u00a0 Nuclear power is the future!<\/strong><\/p>\n\t

Fact:\u00a0 Solar energy is the future!<\/strong>\u00a0 All life on earth is powered directly by the sun (plants) or indirectly\u00a0by consuming things that are\u00a0powered by the sun.\u00a0 Nuclear energy is the future!<\/strong>\u00a0 If all things on earth are powered by the sun…..what is the sun powered by?\u00a0 Nuclear energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

Bottom Line, we should take note:\u00a0 Nature has a way of pointing out the most efficient mechanisms for things (except the wheel….how did it not invent the wheel?).<\/p>\n\t

The Cost of Doing Nothing:<\/h2>\n\t

Spin:\u00a0 “It would’ve been worse if we had done nothing.”\u00a0 “We must act now; the cost of doing nothing is too great.”<\/p>\n\t

Fact:\u00a0 I hear this all the time in the media, in politics, in business.\u00a0 Is the cost of doing nothing greater than the cost of acting now?\u00a0 The answer is easy:\u00a0 Impossible to say.\u00a0 Untenable.<\/p>\n\t

We hear the cost of doing nothing argument currently about health care; we also heard it with the financial crisis.<\/p>\n\t

People use the phrase as a way to promote expediency.\u00a0 “We must act now…or else!”\u00a0 Or else what?<\/p>\n\t

The suggestion (or whatever we must act now on)\u00a0may or may not have merit, but often it is simply impossible to prove what would’ve happened otherwise.\u00a0 What was<\/em> the true opportunity cost that decision?\u00a0 We don’t know in most cases.\u00a0 You can search for analogies in the real world to try and see, but it is easy to argue those away.<\/p>\n\t

In the end, the “cost of doing nothing” argument is a complete waste of breath.\u00a0 It doesn’t signify anything.\u00a0 It is unsupportable and does not promote dialogue.\u00a0 If you must do something then the merits stand on\u00a0their own, not as an alternative to “or else”.\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes I think so.\u00a0 It can’t be true though.\u00a0 IQs are going up (Flynn Effect).\u00a0 I do think people are uniformed, but certainly people have always been uninformed.\u00a0 With the Internet providing more information that we can ever\u00a0possibly wade though, and college attendance at an all time high, there is no excuse for being uniformed…moreso […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0},"categories":[9],"tags":[28,51],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3IMYj-37","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":520,"url":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=520","url_meta":{"origin":193,"position":0},"title":"The problem with experts: We need them, but don’t know how to identify them.","author":"kellio","date":"January 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"As a consultant, I am a paid expert. 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Why not let money continue to ration?\u00a0 I guess that is fine, except that our current course is unsustainable (costs too much), and what happens when you don’t have the money\/lose your insurance (Medical bills prompt more than 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies<\/a>.)?\u00a0 Are you willing to risk that?\u00a0\u00a0US insurance is tied to jobs, and people change jobs\u00a0a lot more than they used to…you will<\/strong> get caught in between at some point and find out that private health insurance is unaffordable (the same private insurance industry that says there is no need for reform).\u00a0<\/p>\n\t