Health Care

I had gotten the impression all along that there was something wrong with the arguments for nationalizing health care. The complaint that it was excessively expensive, and therefor had to be managed by the government. Government management is famous for reducing efficiencies and the only way I could see this helping is if the newly reorganized system is set up to be immune from frivolous lawsuits.

I've not heard of the ATLA coming out against Obamacare, so I assume the gravy train will still be running.

What this article notes is that the cost of health care is exponentially proportionate to your age and your income. The older you get the more expensive it gets to keep you alive, and the more you make, the more you can afford it.

Subject of course to the law of diminishing returns. Note that 75 is regularly reached with incomes as low as $10K/year, and getting wealthier boosts this all the way to 78 or 80. I'm going to guess that the best way to lengthen your life span is to be more careful how you choose your parents.

The best way to keep costs down is to begin planning early. If you're already 78 years old, and the doctor says the reason you've been feeling poorly lately is because you've got one of the nastier forms of cancer, perhaps the best bet would be to forgo treatments, which would zero out your estate and extend your life maybe 6 months. Instead use the remaining 3 months to get your affairs in order. Plan a funeral with an open bar, on a chartered cruise ship, and invite enough people to zero out your estate anyway.

Your heirs will be less annoyed with you when they hear the money's gone than they would be if they went to the will reading and found that the bit that didn't go to the hospital was left to the home for retired hookers in Las Vegas and they've been cut out.