Right now almost one third of the Federal Budget is for Medicare and Medicaid and that quantity of spending actually comprises over 5% of our economy. Just imagine that a full third of your tax burden right now is already going to pay for a program that most tax payers do not benefit from. On top of that realize that conservative estimates put that 10% of Medicare and Medicaid payments are fraudulent.
We wonder why the U.S. spends so much on healthcare?? It is because the government basically forces us to! Aside from the built in 10% fraud that is occurring in the Medicare and Medicaid system there is also all the money being spent on mental health drugs - drugs that treat illnesses for which there is no physical diagnosis and for which there is no cure, only limitless treatments with drugs. If you don't think that is important consider this report about Medicaid expenditures in the state of Texas:
“According to a report on the state's Medicaid Vendor Drug Program, mental health drugs made up the largest category of expenditures among the top 200 drugs in 1999. They accounted for nearly $148 million. Those costs have more than doubled since1996.”
“For the proposed 2002-2003 budget, lawmakers have increased by $1 billion theamount of money allocated to health and human services. A significant portion of that will go for medications,officialssaid.”
So if you are thinking all that Medicare and Medicaid money is going to treat people with broken bones, cancer, heart disease and things like that - think again.
This brings us to the next point. It seems that if you open the tax payers' wallets to health care expenditure it is certain that someone will reach in there an take it.
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