Hospital Costs are Higher in Real Terms 

By Rand Fanshier 
October 15, 2006

I view health care as one of those areas that has been made worse, not better, by government involvement.

It's convenient for politicians and legislators to campaign on "improving" health care, because the average person obviously wants better health care. The lie is that politicians ultimately cannot improve upon what well-meaning (but also self-serving) people accomplish voluntarily in the free market.

Doctors are quitting the system because they don't like to be treated like a work unit. It takes a special kind of mind to be willing to go to school so long and the have that level of focus and dedication. They want to control their own actions, they want freedom from others who would tell them what to do, how to do it. Doctors are not a dime a dozen, and if they are not treated as they would like then they won't work at all. They'd rather tend their garden or write a novel or something.

The government actually produces NOTHING, it can only consume, disrupt, and abridge the rights of people to interact freely.

For example, here is a table that shows after 50 years of government involvement in health care, how costs have gone up in real terms, as a percentage of household income that takes inflation into account:

	1951	2004
Average Family Income	$3,837	$63,630
Hospital Stay Cost Avg	$135	$8,595
Cost as ratio of Income	3.5%	13.5%
Increase in Stay Cost		383%
Hospital Stay Days Avg	7.5	5
Cost per Day	$18	$1,719
Cost as ratio of Income	0.5%	2.7%
Increase in Diem Cost		575%

The reason why we have a medical services problem in the U.S. is because the costs have gone up by nearly 600 percent. Costs have gone up for several reasons. First of all, there are really two markets in health services: Optional services and emergency services. A person in need of emergency services is hardly in a position to shop around. Second of all, the advent of government-paid health insurance (medicaid, medicare) introduced a 500-lb gorilla consumer to compete for the limited supply of available services. As prices inched up, entire segments of the population increasingly could no longer afford the price. They were forced into HMOs and other cost-sharing solutions, none of which were accountable or inclined to put any pressure on costs. Then people eventually gave up and expect the government to take care of them. For the longest time during the 575% rise in costs, the premiums were bearable. In the last couple of years finally the government spends over half of dollars in health, and between the government, insurance companies and direct pay, more than $6,000 for every man woman and child in America is spent annually on health care today.

In the free market, costs should come down and quality and features should improve over time. But in 2006, thanks to the socialists, we finally we have achieved both higher costs AND diminishing quality.

Sources:

TRANSACTIONS OF SOCIETY OF ACTUARIES 1952 VOL.4 NO. 8 SPECIAL INVESTIGATION OF GROUP HOSPITAL EXPENSE INSURANCE EXPERIENCE STANLEY W. GINGERY

Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission Press Release 201 West Preston Street, Baltimore, MD. 21201 Karen Black Office of Public Relations 410-767-6490 Average Amount Paid For a Hospital Stay in Maryland

U.S. Census Bureau Historical Income Tables - Families Table F-7 Type of Family, All Races by Median and Mean Income: 1953 to 2004

Speech at Longmont Times-Call Channel 3 Cable Access
(3 minutes was much too short for proper delivery of this, so here it is in full)

1. Hello, my name is Rand Fanshier and I would like to be your state house representative. You can vote for me if you live in Clear Creek, Gilpin, or the mountainous and northmost parts of Boulder County. I'm a Libertarian, which means I will be able to watchdog the major parties and ensure that there is real debate in the narrowly divided state assembly.

2. For example, I received my "Clear Creek Courant" newspaper yesterday, and I see the Democrats paid for an advertisement to tell people how to vote. Just picking an item at random, I see they recommend a no vote on Amendment 38, the petition rights amendment--And they call themselves Democrats! I guess it makes some sense that the political bosses want to take away the right of the people to petition lawmakers to remove bad legislation. It's not particularly democratic, is it?

3. The major parties give us populist causes like the immigration issue, educational reform, or guns in schools, while they are busy killing 600,000 innocent people in Iraq. Do not be fooled by the rhetoric--for the latest budget the U.S. Senate voted 98 to 0 to pay the military-industrial complex enormous sums for more torture, occupation, and increased police powers. All the Democrats approved! In fact the Democrats have given President Bush all the power he wants, and then some. They are no friends of the people. And Democrats and the Republicans seem divided; but in the end their similarities far outweigh their differences!

4. Look for example at the politicians' socialized health care system. Since the 1950's a hospital stay has increased in cost by 500 to 600%, in real terms as a percentage of household income. Is this what they mean by providing affordable health care to the poor? And what about social security. If an ordinary wage-earner and his employer were to put the identical amount into secure investments averaging 6% annually, he'd have a million dollars at retirement, and plenty of money to give to his kids so they can get a good start in life. Instead, social security recipients are lucky to get $900 bucks a month. Is this social security? It sounds like a rip-off to me.

5. What about referendum C? This measure, introduced by our state legislators and promoted by our own Republican governor Bill Owens, lets the state keep--and unconstitutionally--roughly $35 hundred dollars from an average family of four. Now this is interesting: The Denver Business Journal on Wednesday writes "393 properties were entering foreclosure in Weld County in september, a rate of one foreclosure for every 168 households. Colorado's rate of one foreclosure at 408 households was 2.5 times the national average." Excuse me--but WHY does government need to grow faster than the constitutional limitation on spending, at a time when everyone else in the state is having to tighten their belts? Does it not stand to reason that Bill Owens' keeping families tax refund is forcing them into foreclosure in many cases? How does this help the children or the elderly? Folks!...

6. Every time you vote for another Democrat--or Republican for that matter--you put a few more of your neighbors out on the street, and make them dependent on the government.

7. Then there's gun control, which Republican governor Bill Owens signed into law. Oh, that's a good idea! Let's disarm all the good people so that the bad or insane ones know it will be a longgg time before anyone will arrive to stop their rampage. Thanks, Governor!

8. Environment. My goodness. Our government, according to a recent study, pollutes five times more than all private industry combined! There are millions of mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, nuclear plutonium-grade and other weapons leaking and stockpiled all over the country--and the government is making more instead of paying to have the old ones incinerated. But normal people like you and I--by law--can't buy a quick-drying can of paint or go to a bar and have a cigarette even with the permission of the owner! Institutional Democrats like Fitzgerald actually are proud of what they've accomplished, that's how bad the usurping of rights has become. Folks!... Are you beginning to understand what side they are on? It's us, against them. Make no doubt about it.

9. We are losing our liberties at record-breaking rates. I spoke to a plastic surgeon the other day who told me that if an emergency patient arrives at her door needing treatment, the doctor is required by statute to provide the best of care--possibly for a year or two--even if the patient cannot pay. Now on the one hand, doctors have always taken charity cases in the past--by good will and choice, but not by force of law. What happened to "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?" We are losing America faster than ever, and that is because we believe the Republicans and the Democrats are on our side.

10. They are not. As you listen to what my Democratic opponent Claire Levy has to say, remember that all of the additional spending she wants for schools and social programs, will put one more family out of their house, drive one more manufacturer out of business, cause one more doctor to quit. Government is the only lawful force, and more government is what Claire Levy has in store for you.

11. Instead, vote for Rand Fanshier, I'll get the government off your back, out of your pocket, and restore traditional, American values of freedom and liberty!

My opinion on referendum F has changed, upon more detailed review. I was originally in SUPPORT, but now will OPPOSE this ballot issue:

Referendum F: Removes recall timelines from the Colorado Constitution.

"It seems to me that if the voters need to remove a bad elected official, that there should be no restrictions on when this can be done."

"Unfortunately, this referendum does not remove recall limitations entirely, and worse--it places them at the whim of statutory law rather than to be governed by the state constitution. So, no to this wolf in sheep's clothing."

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Rand Fanshier for HD13

Rand lives in Clear Creek County, and the area covered by his district includes Clear Creek, Gilpin, and the West part of Boulder County. A more detailed compilation of Rand's opinion pieces may be found at http://randfreedom.org.

There has been a disturbing trend in state politics in recent years to ignore the strict constitutional limits on government and for legislators to assume all kinds of power over us that we never gave them.

I view my role in the state assembly in very simple terms: To break forever the bipartisan Republican-Democrat hegemony by holding a valuable third opinion, to be the winning 'card of principle' in a narrowly divided house deck. I will accomplish this by ONLY supporting and sponsoring legislation in matters authorized to the State of Colorado by its constitution.

What this will mean for the people of my district is a gradual return to traditional American values of freedom, as envisioned by our founding fathers in 1776.

My esteemed liberal opponent in this race would work hard to take more of the fruits of your labor, and fund more and more programs in a centralized form of government. But these things are precisely what we in Colorado's mountain communities should avoid. We pride ourselves on being independent and responsible, and don't need anyone else, especially a central authority, telling us how to live our lives, stay healthy, educate our children, or plan for our retirement.

Our government needs to be restricted to a nominal role of protecting people from those who would infringe upon their rights, and these protected rights ought to include 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' I will serve you and all Coloradoans in this way as the defender of liberty in the state legislature.

 

Rand Fanshier Announces Bid for HD 13

###START PRESS RELEASE###

June 13, 2006

Rand Fanshier announces his bid for Colorado House District 13. This district includes Clear Creek, Gilpin, and West Boulder County.

Statement from Rand:

As a mountain resident here in Colorado, I enjoy fresh air, abundant wildlife, all four different seasons, friendly people. But against this idyllic backdrop there is this dark cloud down below that hangs over the flatlands. And it's growing. Sometimes I have to get in my car and go down there, but I'd rather not. Some of you have no idea what I'm referring to. The rest of us know exactly what I'm talking about.

It's not just the physical smoggy air, it's this attitude of being busy and hectic. It's about not saying "hi" to strangers on the sidewalk because, well, there's just so many of them and it's hot and all you want to do is go home, back into the cool mountains with deer and fluttering aspens and the long shadows cast by snowcapped peaks.

But because there's something you have to get or some piece of business to conduct, you roll on down the hill and take your chances. Maybe there will be a policeman who suspects you of possessing something you oughtn't, or you can't afford a pack of cigarettes because of the added sales tax, or you'll get pulled over for "click-it or ticket", or you'll get back to your car a minute too late and face a parking violation. Most of the time, it seems our own government causes the bad feelings we feel when we have to go down the hill. One thing noticeable when I drive back to the mountains, is that I can relax. No laws of man to disturb me--only the laws of Nature, or God if you prefer.

This is my campaign, less government and more common sense. Back to natural law and friendly people who can say "hi" to you because they aren't being taxed and controlled by an overreaching government. I am running to win, and once elected I will work hard to change politics in Colorado, so that everyone can have a more idyllic life--the same kind of life I return to daily in my peaceful mountain land.  It pleases me to abide by the laws on the mountain, whereas the laws of men rankle.

As the election year proceeds, I will be writing a series of articles relevant to our life and times. I will focus on concrete ways to reduce the size, scope and reach of the government. These articles will be available at my web page http://randfreedom.org and the content there is free for publication by state and local media, so by all means check back from time to time.

###END PRESS RELEASE###

In Liberty, Rand Fanshier, Candidate: Colorado House District 13

112 Crow Ridge Road, Evergreen, Colorado 80439 

mailto:rand@randfreedom.org

Campaign website: http://www.randfreedom.org

Phone: (720)560-0692 Fax: (303)670-2709

p.s.: Media Outlets - If I am sending these press releases to the wrong person, please let me know who at your organization would like to continue receiving five to six releases through November. I'd be happy to talk to you, any time. Thank you.