Michigan Liberal::: Meanwhile, health care is still broken

by Eric B.

“We have 12 million people who cannot afford health insurance,” (Heartland Institute Director of Government Relations Peter) Fotos said, explaining that the other 34 million uninsured people either make enough money to purchase insurance or are eligible for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program and choose not to participate in those public programs.

Emphasis mine. You have to know next to nothing about the health care industry to say this kind of thing with a straight face. There is, of course, the morality angle ... suggesting that access to the emergency room is health care in the same way that having access to preventative care is health care.  It's like saying that you are maintaining your car properly because you got the engine rebuilt after it ran out of oil and threw a rod, except that if you wait around to visit the emergency room rather than using Lipitor, the stakes are somewhat higher.

The profoundly stupid thing here, however, is a free market advocate talking about the emergency room while advocating ways to fix health care. One of the things that drives up the costs of health care is when uninsured people stagger into the E.R. clutching their chests. Not only is this person a lot more expensive to treat than if you'd lowered his blood pressure to begin with, the odds of him paying that bill are somewhat diminished. What winds up happening is that the hospital has to balance its budget and pushes the costs of getting stiffed in the E.R. off to everyone else.  In short, what this guy is calling access to health care is part of the problem.

Source: U.S. Census

That leaves 12 million without insurance. These people are not eligible for government programs because they have incomes or assets above the Medicaid caps. Its a serious problem, and obviously we have some serious disagreements about how to solve it.

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UM Regents OK Endowment Policy Change

20.07.10

The pair added five more names to the “met” category on Thursday, when they attended the UM regents meeting. They got their photo taken with regents and president Mary Sue Coleman after the meeting. During the meeting, they had a chance to see presentations, some rare public disagreement among board members, and votes on a range of items.

The disagreement stemmed from a proposal to lower the distribution rate on the university’s endowment from 5% to 4.5%. Tim Slottow, UM’s chief financial officer, made the case that the change will help protect the core of the endowment’s value. Julia Darlow, the board’s new chair, argued that they shouldn’t spend less at a time when families are struggling, noting that much of the payout goes toward financial aid and instruction. Other regents disagreed with her and the change was approved, with Darlow and Denise Ilitch dissenting.

Regents also voted – in each case, unanimously – to approve designs for three construction projects: at Crisler Arena, a golf indoor practice facility, and the Institute for Social Research, which is building an addition. Architects for each project gave presentations of the schematic designs before the votes.

Source: The Ann Arbor Chronicle