And sho ’nuff, Mo’ expensiver…

This piece is about the Medical Industrial Complex, and more. It’s about realizing that you are funding the business from which you deserve returns, but that is designed to make you its perennial benefactor. That means that you began paying for it when you paid your first tax, you pay to access the system you already fund, and will continue to support it until well after you die…

That’s how it’s designed.

It’s called taxation without representation.

Representation is:

– ”the act of representing”

– “action or speech on behalf of a person, group, business house, state, or the like by an agent, deputy, or representative”

– “the state, fact, or right of being represented by delegates having a voice in legislation or government”

– “to serve to express, designate, stand for, or denote, as a word, symbol, or the like does; symbolize”

– “a situation where citizens are required to pay taxes to a government without having any say in how those taxes or policies are developed”

Didn’t this tyranny start a war in 1776?

Let me preface this article with a question:

“Do you have any input, idea, or any say regarding how or where your tax dollars are spent?”

As we continue, I ask that you limit your response to your medical expenses, but be mindful of the broader scope in general. They are inextricably tangled.

I’m no stranger to the Mega-Business that is Merka’s Uber-business of Medicine, nor am I a neophyte to the exorbitant costs from every visit to any medical facility. I’ve written about this before, likening it to visits to an auto mechanic and the factory environment used as their model for care and payment. They describe my experiences in what’s loosely called Health Care and with its practitioners.

– Those articles are available here: [link]

Traversing the pitfalls and mazes built into that system continually test my resolve toward maintaining my personal health. I can’t help but think that’s their goal.

This article is a personal continuation, and general observation by extension. As I think through the dialog and content, I realize that the business of health, dovetails with the Merkan Gubmints fiscal scheme of using our money as they please, then rationalizing their abuse to hide their deeds.

Their overarching rationalization…

– “It is for your own good.”

– “It for the good of the republic.”

I’ve had my share of medical encounters with all levels of the business that is medicine and medical care. Hippocrates authored 60 books and multiple papers on medicine and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. I recall his words from the Doctor’s Oath:

  – “First, do no harm…”

  – “ … medicine should depend on detailed observations, reason, and experience in order to establish diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment.”

  – “…threat the person, and the disease.”

That first line sets the stage for Hippocrates’ medical doctrine.

The second is the basis of its delivery.

The third entreats the practitioner to consider the person and the disease as a single entity during treatment, not just the malady.

I use the tired, well-worn, and hackneyed appendage of Complex with the phrase industrialized medicine, because it summarizes the massive power and influence it has in every aspect of our lives. I’ll use Medical Industrial Complex, to describe the influences and actions of a business that should work for the good of humanity, rather than the complex itself and its investors.

Servicing needs is the basis for any business, but to build in self-perpetuating and self-fulfilling processes is NOT acting in the interests of the customer, or the patient in this case, it is simply unbounded, not unlike our current government where the guardrails, or limits – checks and balances are obsolete. A superb example is the Weaponized Department of Justice as political assassins to interfere with our election process.

The 2023 revenue figures for the Medical Industrial Complex:

– The top 10 Healthcare Providers brought in $1.926 Trillion.

– The top 10 Big Pharma companies racked up about $1.6 Trillion.

* AND… they have the temerity to charge Merkan customers hundreds of times the prices they sell it for in foreign markets.

The average annual private medical insurance cost for an individual is $8,435 – the plan for a small family is $23,986, roughly three times the individual rate.

These are numbers for 2023, you can bet your Aunt Fanny’s corset, that the costs are higher for 2024, and will continue to increase as this autotrophic industry grows.

– An autotroph is an organism that can produce its own food or sustenance – self-feeding.

Healthcare is 35% of average family earnings based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures.

Here are the average family expenses according to the BLS:

– The average family of four spends an average of $7,876 to $9,168 per month on expenses, it equates to $94,500 to $110,016 annually. Including health insurance, but not the incidental costs like co-pays and pharmaceuticals.

According to the US Census Bureau, median household annual income for 2023 was $80,610.

According to the BLS, the median annual expenses for 2023 was $102,258.

Look at the average income on the lines above.

Subtract the average expenses from the average income.

Using the USCB and BLS data the result of average annual income and expenses:

– Median annual income: $ 80,610

– Average annual: $ 72,996

– Result – residual: $ 7,614 or $634.05 per month

Please raise your hand if your family income is in this range… Remember that these are national averages. I used these numbers to illustrate a few things:

1. Reducing America to a financial table does us all a disservice. This is the government’s way of rationalizing the decisions that lead to these costs. Remember, figures lie and liars figure. That’s why Gubmint publishes ranges and not specifics – charts and graphs dehumanize us by reducing us to data points.

2. We have little or no choice about our medical providers. This is truly sad, because we are forced to use the facilities aligned with the insurance companies – especially Medicare. The caveat to this would be the 20 million geographically disenfranchised invaders – who reap benefits with no input, increasing our costs, and limiting our access and options.

3. The government cannot give something to anyone that it does not take from someone else first.

Simple math tells the tale.

The result of income – expenses = a negative $21,648!

An additional cost of $1,804 per month!

These figures corroborate the rights’ political claims that this economy is costing the average family an additional $2,000 per month. This is the result of inflation, caused by the lefts’ profligate, reckless government spending. Truth be told, neither party is blameless. It’s easy to spend someone else’s money.

The FY (fiscal year) 2023 government:

– Budget $6.13 Trillion

– Income $4.44 Trillion

– Deficit $1.70 Trillion

– 123.44% of GDP

– Total Deficit $35.4 Trillion

– US Unfunded Liabilities $220 Trillion

* The interest only payments on this debt for 2024: $1.2 Trillion!

I seems that Merkans’ personal financial model follows that of our government. We’re forced to run our lives on the razor’s-edge of insolvency. But, considering the burgeoning tax loads and the administrative inability to stop spending, I‘m amazed that we’ve lasted this long. Couple this with the shortsighted decisions that create spending. It is a puzzlement that we have any operating services at all.

Existing services continue to operate because they are deficit financed – Gubmint borrows money to support them. Ever hear the phrase: “Robbing Peter to pay Paul?” This is a perfect example of that phrase.

Yes… the government is out of money and needs a third continuing resolution to keep the lights on; to make payrolls, and fund the ancillary benefits like Social Security and Medicare for the 20 million Obama Reich geographically disenfranchised ‘guests’. We’re lucky to be alive, given their wastrel financial policies.

I wonder when Congress, the opposite of Progress, will repay the $2.9 Trillion ‘purloined’ from Social Security – their functional piggy-bank? That heist will be totally spent by 2034, and the social program support system will collapse.

Forbes estimates that 78% of Merkans’ are living paycheck to paycheck… up 6% from last year; 48.6% consider themselves to be broke.

Is it any wonder we Merkans’ feel the fiscal pinch with numbers like those above?

But few people see these figures or if they do, fail to understand the impact. They believe the Corporate Media Complex, who broadcast that everything will be fine when the next partisan political party leader takes the desk. Analysts estimate that it will take decades (as in several) to dig us out of this fiscal hole.

Take another hit from the Hopium Pipe, and anticipate partisan political deliverance.

Gubmint sponsored sites are not information, they are all propaganda. They only tell us what the gubmint wants us to know.

What are they hiding?

People and agencies lie to hide the truth or to cover their mistakes, or greed, and in this instance it’s all of the above, and so much more.

We are mushrooms – kept in the dark and fed a constant diet of bullshit.

It’s like asking your insurance company to pay a claim; you expect their reticence. My first decision is whether to pursue or abandon the idea. I frequently pursue, since that’s why I have insurance, that’s what I pay them for, and I am a very stubborn old bastard.

My latest foray into the Healthcare Business is the first of two, total shoulder replacements necessitated by an automobile accident – still being processed through my attorney – so this is initially a matter for my medical insurance and out of pocket expense. I’m not sure how this will be adjudicated and how the insurance companies will reimburse each other, as they should, and how I’ll be compensated for my pain, suffering, and my enormous investment of time to see it through. I do expect to be boned in the process somehow…

It is a “Zero Sum Game” – the total or the gains and losses will total zero. I get the zero…

BOHICA!

The presumption by these providers; I use this term loosely, because it implies that they offer services, but that my time has no value. That I have nothing but that rare commodity to waste and chase their requirements and documents; all to prove that I’m worthy of their consideration.

“Time is a commodity of which we have too little, and for which we often have no value; until it’s all gone.” ~ Me

Imagine going to your mechanic for repairs, he opens the service bay door, and hands you the tools so you can do the work. Oh yes… He’ll charge you full-rate for the repairs, and mark up the price of parts; but remember, you did the work.

By the way, my damaged car sits unusable in the garage, as it has for the past 6 months, awaiting any decision by the insurance companies. WTF, why am I paying thousands of dollars a year, paying an attorney to fight for the services and coverage I pay them to furnish. If I hire them to manage the process as knowledgeable experts, then I’m being robbed.

This situation started me thinking about the process and costs. I began estimating- my medical expenses for the past twenty four – years, since my heart- attack, bypass, stents, knees, and my first of two, shoulder replacements.

My running-estimate puts my medical expense number near $1.25 million since the turn of the century. This sum counts the major operations and a best-guess at incidental visits and the incredible amount of co-pays required to access care. If I were to include Big-Pharma retail pharmaceutical expenses, the number would exceed $1.5 million. AND… this tally grows daily because I’m still working through my last surgery and the recommended/requisite physical therapy.

This is my story, and nearly every Merkan has one.

The final point in this thesis is the continued revenue from not curing diseases like Cancer.

If American, or even world medical research firm was as marvelous as claimed, we would have cured every disease in the Physicians’ Desk References – years ago. But finding a cure has never been the goal; it’s always been to maintain the cash-flow.

Medical research funding tops $245 billion for 2023, the budget for the National Institute of Health (NIH) – the Fauci Obfuscation Institute of Lies (FOIL), is $47.1 billion for 2024. You remember Fauci? The scientist that brought us the Wuhan Virus and Pandemic…

His gain-of-function exercise in genetic manipulation cost the planet $16 Trillion, Merka’s’ $6.4 Trillion in foreign funding, and us, $5 Trillion. Now Faucci is retired on $414K annually. That’s more than the Presidents’ salary. Here’s a stellar example of making crime pay.

Why is this relevant?

Because YOUR money pays for his retirement. Just like all of the other civil-servants and retired government employees.

There are two Civil Service Retirement Plans:

CSRS – Civil Service Retirement System – a contributory retirement system where the retiree contributes monthly, much like old-style retirement plans common before the 1980s when employers abandoned this practice in favor of the 401k accounts.

FERS – Federal Employees Retirement Systems – provides benefits from three different sources, Basic Benefits Plan, Social Security, and Thrift Savings plan.

Civil Servants under the CSRS plan receive $5,447 monthly: $65,364 annually.

Civil Servants under the FERS plan receive $2,126 monthly: $25,512 annually.

Much of this comes from the magnanimous and mandatory tax contributions of the Merkan citizen. There are financial program managers that invest these funds to maintain solvency, but we all know that investing is prone to risk in market fluctuation, and ruined many private retirement funds. Make no mistake, a 401k is an investment as well, and subject to the same market volatilities.

– “An investment is an asset or item acquired to generate income or gain appreciation. Appreciation is the increase in the value of an asset over time, with no guarantee.”

There are multiple types of investment, each with particular and peculiar levels of risk, and potential for fraud. Basically, you loan your money to the owner of the asset to use, with the promise of a Return On that Investment – called the ROI – the profit, at a future time. There is no guarantee that the ROI or profit will be positive; that part is speculative.

Traditional pension plans are quite rare. The estimates are that 54.4% of families have retirement plans. Will these families be able to deal with catastrophic illness? Medicare will continue to meet medical needs as long as benefit limits are not exceeded. Yes, folks… Medicare has limits, just like every other insurance policy. You need to familiarize yourself with these caveats.

Here’s the bottom line…

Medical Care is BIG Business… look at the number above to crystalize my assertions, and exhibit the magnitude of the issue. We’re dealing with trillions of dollars – our dollars. Remember that every penny comes from us – you and me. We pay for these programs and insurances and co-pays – and over-the-counter drugs out of our pockets, from our paychecks, from our salaries, from our taxes…

The Medical Industrial Complex is one of the many Complexes we tolerate. We endure these aggregated associations in every facet of our lives, from government to media and everything in between. We watched as they take form and solidified as we’re distracted by one of the other amalgamations’.

The media is the best example of the distractors in this scheme. We’ve recently experienced their alignment with government as it played out in the political arena.

Their obvious bias was on public display during the last and final debate. Their favoritism was apparent before, during, and after the show. Preference was given to the Nationalist American Socialist Party on the screen, and behind the scenes as they pandered to the Queen of the NASP.

“Within the character of the citizen, lies the welfare of the nation.” ~ Cicero

Think about this in closing…

If someone can take money that you’ve earned without asking, or by demand; you never really had control of it.

If they make you struggle to use the services, you pay for; I’d call that tyranny.

If they can do as they please after taking it; it was never really yours…

I’d call that “Taxation without Representation…”

I recall that starting an historic conflict around April of 1775… I may be wrong.

October 31, 2024

~ The Author ~
Charles R. Dickens was born in 1951, is a veteran of the Vietnam war, for which he volunteered, and the great-great grandson of the noted author, whose name he shares.

He is a fiercely proud American, who still believes this is the greatest country on the planet, with which we’ve lost control and certainly our direction. He grew up in moderate financial surrounding; we’re not rich by any stretch, but didn’t go hungry – his incredibly hard working father saw to that. As most from that era, he learned about life from his father, whose story would take too long to tell, other than to say that, he is also a fiercely proud American; a WWII and Korean war, veteran Marine.

Charlie was educated in the parochial system which, demanded that you actually learn something, and have capability to retain it before you advance. He attended several universities in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree, and chased the goose further to a master’s, and has retained some very definite ideas about education in this country.

In addition, Charlie is a retired blues guitar and vocalist – a musician. This was his therapy career. Nothing brings him as much joy as playing music, and he wishes that he could make a living at it… but alas… life goes on!