Coming

To

America

Health Care

Rationing?

DYI:  Behaviorally induced maladies.

In today’s society – for better or worse – information regarding our long term health behaviors are well known as information – despite privacy guarantees – are well known.  My suspicion the government will grant a privacy exemption along with actively encouraging the mining of data to build health profiles.  This information will be used to determine if Medicare, Medicaid, VA, and the private insurance market for payment denial of procedures deemed behaviorally induced maladies.

If obese and develop type II diabetes and it has been determined by physician(s) the cause is only by overeating – coverage denied.  You can obtain treatment but you will have to pay for it yourself.  The same goes for smokers.  If an individual has been smoking for decades as they know from data mining your grocery/convenience store purchase records heart surgery or recovery from a stroke will be denied.  Again, you can receive treatment but the payment is on the individual.

Who is pushing for this?  As medical care costs sky rocket cost savings will be looked into.  Of course the greatest saving is simply by enforcing 100⁺ year old laws on our books – The Robinson-Patman, Clayton, and Sherman Anti-Trust Acts will drop the cost of health care by 75% or more.  Allow for re-importation of pharmaceutical drugs prices will drop from 50% to 75% depending upon the newness of the drug.

So far I’ve not seen any traction from the Trump Administration – all they have been doing is sitting on their hands.  If Trump wants a huge build out of infrastructure and an increased military spending he will need to go where the savings are – THE MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.   

However the obesity issue will not go away as the military now deems – and rightfully so – a national defense issue.  Currently recruiters turn away 70% potential applicants due to morbid obesity.  I wouldn’t have believed the number if it were not for the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff stating it as so.  Also the military is hot on stamping out smoking as well.  This leads me to believe these changes (coverage denial) will take place whether or not the health care industry is reformed through reestablishing competition.

DYI