So while the snow keeps lawmakers from raising our taxes at least a few more days, I thought it might be a good time to point out a couple of things.
For starters, for those of you against socialized medicine (and I count myself among you), you'll be surprised (distraught?) to learn we're already halfway there.
According to the federal number-crunchers, for the first time ever, government programs will make up more than half of all health care spending in the country next year. It's just one more thing you can blame on the economy, as the Medicaid rolls grow and the private insurance business suffers.
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In 2008, according to the federal study, 47 percent of the nation's $2.34 trillion in health care spending came from public funds. The eggheads estimate that'll jump to 50.4 percent next year. Scary.
Check out the entire sad Wall Street Journal story here: http://bit.ly/dl6Q4L
On the flip side, I was happy to see a GOP health care reform counter-proposal on the table this morning to the Democratic plans making the rounds. Sure, the 10-point strategy offered up by John C. Goodman and Newt Gingrich has its issues, as well, but I couldn't be happier to see something other than more complaints. Now that we're getting other ideas out there, maybe we can make some real progress. Well, as long as we're not talking about another routine federal appointment.
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