There is only so long an individual can let something bother them before they have to bring attention to it. I tell you over and over that I really do try to stay away from religion and political talk as best as I can. Enough ‘things’ have happened with government and in the political arena over the last year and especially the last few months, that it does have, and is going to have, a huge impact on the ability of individuals to have financial independence.
What has happened is that with everything going on at the federal level and then even at the state and local level, we have lost control to an extent. Two issues are especially significant… Cap-and-Trade and government intervention into the health care sector. While there is no doubt that there are problems with our health care system, I’m not so sure that having Big Brother step in and ‘bail them out’ is really the best solution.
One thing that truly aggravates me is that every time you hear someone complain about a policy or disagree with government/private action, you never hear that person offer a solution or an alternative. They tend to be ‘arm-chair quarterbacks’ that sit back and offer up critiques without every really contributing any value to the cause. This is especially frustrating to me personally because I am an elected official, and I deal with this on a daily basis. If you are going to complain or talk negatively about an issue, you should be ready to offer up alternatives that validate your point and improve the overall situation. So, in the show today that is exactly what I try to do.
As you listen to the show, I share a personal experience that I feel is a very accurate representation of how the government sometimes does not handle its responsibilities in the best way possible. The example I share actually involves the 2009 stimulus and how, because of government intervention, a portion of those funds didn’t do what they were originally designed to do. Rather, they served as a pseudo-bailout, not an economic stimulus.
Then, I again draw on The Millionaire Next Door and attempt to show how the traits of successful individuals and employing practices that make individuals successful are strikingly similar to the processes and decisions that can allow countries, economies, and governments to be successful. Not only do I share these practices that both individuals and countries can employee to have success, but I also read and offer up some solutions to problems such as our current health care system.
I’ve said it time and time again. We are trying to start a movement that can not only lead individuals to financial success, but can also take this country to heights that it has never been. If you have ideas, comments, or solutions to current problems, please share them! We want to know what you think, and we want this show to become a conduit for great ideas to better the masses!
Also, check out this article and play around with Microsoft’s answer to Google, Bing!
Rick Francis says
July 10, 2009 at 1:50 pmThe US Heath Care system has to change, the current system leaves too many without coverage, and the cost increases for those with coverage are not maintainable. The insurance companies and providers have not made the necessary changes and it is not necessarily in their financial interest to make these changes! Unfortunately, that leaves making the changes to the government. I suspect the government will not do a great job of reforming the system, but it wouldn’t be that hard to at least improve the current trends. Since you are asking for ideas on a better system here are mine:
Some level of coverage for everyone is needed- this should be bare bones coverage, some treatments should NOT be covered- based on their cost to benefit ratio. There should still be a private insurance market for broader coverage.
Consumers must accept that insurance will not be able to cover every possible procedure. Age and overall health should be a deciding factor too- We just can’t afford to give everyone a heart transplant.
Consumers of healthcare should always pay some % of the cost instead of a fixed copayment so that they have an incentive in keeping costs down.
Providers need to publish costs so that consumers can make rational purchasing choices. What other industry do you know of where the costs are unknown until after the purchase?
Physicians must know the costs of the medications they subscribe and the tests they run. Today most physicians DON’T have any idea. So they can be influenced by drug company reps to prescribe new expensive drugs that are not necessarily better.
We as a society need to rethink our attitude toward death. Healthcare costs soar for the elderly, especially near the end of life. At what point is this care just prolonging the inevitable? Does it really make sense both for the individual and the cost to society as a whole?
Rates should be uniform for the same care from the same source. Currently uninsured patients pay far more for the same care from the same doctor and hospital!
The AMA limits the number of medical schools and thus the number of doctors. That artificial shortage should be put to an end.
Providers should make much more use of nurse practitioners- a lot of care doesn’t require a doctor, so why pay for one? A Nurse practitioner can always pass the appropriate patients to a doctor. AMA lobbies for laws to prevent this now!
Malpractice insurance needs to be changed- we can’t afford medically unneeded tests as malpractice shield. This would likely require some kind of reforms for malpractice law. A medical mistake should NOT be like winning the lottery.
A Physician’s malpractice record needs to be published- this should help drive out quacks and lower overall malpractice insurance rates.
Preventative care that is proven to be cost effective should be subsidized so that it is very affordable. Don’t make the emergency room people’s primary way to get health care. Deal with problems before they become expensive emergencies.
Open the American pharmaceutical market. I see no reason to believe that Canadian pharmaceuticals are any danger to American patients- they are just a danger to America pharmaceutical Company profits.
This isn’t my area of expertise so I’m sure that others could come up with more and better ideas. The problem with these changes is that they are sweeping changes and there are a lot of powerful interests that would lose money and thus will oppose these changes. The ultimate question is do we have the will to make real fixes or just band aids?
-Rick Francis
Chris says
July 10, 2009 at 8:55 pmHI Brian,
I think the show cuts off in the middle this week. I was looking forward to hearing the conclusion. Thanks
Bob Myers says
July 11, 2009 at 9:02 pmThanks for your podcast, the information is always beneficial, however, your latest show was cut off in the middle (after 30:20)
James says
July 13, 2009 at 12:55 amBrian, I’ve been listening to your podcasts for a long time now. I’m a professional accountant like yourself, and I’ve enjoyed your approach to explaining personal finance topics that I usually find very relevant. However, I notice that with recent podcast episodes, you’ve started to delve into politics more and more. For example, your most recent episode on the proposed health care reform in America is pretty much all politics. Firstly, I don’t believe the “Money Guy” podcast is the right venue to voice your personal political viewpoints – certainly that is not what I subscribe to the show for. Secondly, even though I understand that you’re trying to be objective in your discussions, and I commend your effort at doing so, your discussions invariably introduce elements of personal ideology and bias, which is reflected in the way you emphasize arguments for one side (not invalid arguments by the way) to support your personal point of view. Whereas I have a lot of respect for you as a financial advisor and finance topic podcaster, for the reason that I find your personal finance related topics well researched and tend to be consistently long-term focused rather than the shorted sighted reporting typically found on network news, I have not enjoyed your political discussions. Such topics are often just too broad to be covered in a fair and balanced way in a short amount of air time (I find NPR radio to be a much more appropriate forum for politics), and the one-sided presentation such as the one you gave in the recent episode puts you in a bad light to those of us out there who hold different views on certain issues. I’m not saying that I now dislike you for your political views, but presenting one-sided arguments (publicly) is not in keeping with the image of a fair minded professional that I have of you from listening to your podcast over the last couple of years. In short, please keep up the good work on the “Money Guy” but please refrain from trying to get into political debates on the show.
Brian Preston says
July 13, 2009 at 11:45 amThank you for the heads up about the show cutting off! We have gone back and fixed the problem. If you download from iTunes, you can now go back and re-download the entire show.
Sarah says
July 13, 2009 at 2:48 pmFor anyone who thinks socialized or “government run” healthcare is a good idea, take a trip over to a military hospital or a VA hospital. You will change your mind.
Robert Shipp says
July 14, 2009 at 2:38 pmA lot of the problem with health insurance is caused by the misunderstanding of the term insurance. Most patients think health insurance means you pay little or nothing when you go to the doctor. If health insurance were limited to catastrophic or major events as most other types of insurance are, we’d have much less of an issue. (i.e., No one expects to use their home owner’s policy to paint their kitchen).
I’m not sure why people have this perception, but I can assure you it is difficult to overcome.
Peter says
July 14, 2009 at 8:58 pmThe only way to reduce health care spending is to reduce services. You can’t give everyone an MRI every time they get a headache and charge them $10/ month for healthcare. Either we have to accept spending a very large percentage of our personal and/or taxpayer income on healthcare or we need to do some type of rationing.
As you mention in the podcast, a huge amount of resources are spent at the end of someone’s life. Roughly half of your LIFETIME total healthcare expenses can occur in the last 4-6 weeks of life. That is an outrageous waste of resources. When the end comes and people want to do everything possible to prolong someone’s life for even a few days, we need to decide if that is a good use of our resources. How much is it really worth to have grandma alive for an extra week? If she’s 95 years old and suffering congestive heart failure, the unpleasant reality is that she is not going to get better. If we as a country decide we want to pay for that, then that’s up to us, but we have to understand it is VERY expensive.
The bottom line is that healthcare isn’t really a free-market system. Most people will not decide to use the cheapest surgeon around, or put off a procedure for 6 months until it goes on sale. When your health and safety (and possibly very life) are dependent on proper and timely medical care, you generally don’t put a lot of weight on the cost factor. You do what needs to be done and deal with the financial issue later.
So either you want healthcare to be all things to all people all the time, and pay through the nose like we do now; or you allow it to become some things to some people some of the time (otherwise known as rationing) and pay less.