On September 9, 2009, President Obama attempted to clarify the cost issue concerning the healthcare industry.  He suggested that the government will reduce the costs, curtail abuses, and make healthcare services more profitable.

The president proposed creation of a low cost market for health insurance.  And uninsured people will be mandated to buy insurance with some exceptions.  In the recent proposals,  Senator Baucus proposed a new plan in which people who do not buy insurance will be charged a fine of upto $3800.  These fines is expected to spread cost more broadly.

According to economist Paul Craig Roberts, it is a taxation.  It is like asking homeless to buy homes or punish them.  He objects these taxes on the ground that these are imposed upon those who are least able to afford it.

On ABCs this week, Senator Chuck Schumar of New York said that it is not true.  He compared this to auto insurance.  He contests that those are not called taxation then why do we call this as tax.

Here is the problem.  His analogy is broken.  A poor person has the option to not have a car.  The real analogy would be to punish someone for not having a car!

Like Roberts, I believe that taxes should be apportioned according to people’s ability to pay.  For healthcare purposes, one should be able to take all the basic expenses such as food, rent, gas, college fee etc, out from the calculation.   Beyond that, it is fair to tax on a sliding scale or fine those who are not buy health insurance.

Another side of this equation is the cost reduction.  No bills seems to provide a way for cost cutting.  It is mostly about spreading the cost.  Our problem of today is not that, it is of higher cost and waste in the healthcare system.

While we are busy blaming the insurance companies, we are missing out on the real reasons behind the crisis!

The best way to cut cost is to remove all the market controls from healthcare industry.  Right now we control even the number of people who should go to medical school.  Why!

Let it compete in the open market!  let it compete in the global market!! Let is compete against the low cost options!!!

Let government be providing guidelines to protect the people…and that is it.