Want to know a big--and continuing--reason why healthcare costs keep going up? Yes, it's that recurring bugaboo, administration. This time, the IRS gets into the act, levying fines for noncompliance with the new health law. Once you know the IRS will be part of the administration of this law, you can expect incompetence, inefficiency, "one-size-fits-all" bureaucracy, and waste. Remember: the IRS fails to collect nearly $400 billion in taxes each year. Why would anyone expect its record on collecting and administering health law financial compliance to be any different? Read the article at http://www.foxbusiness.com/investing/2012/03/29/irs-already-gearing-up-for-health-care-crackdown/?link=mktw and weep!

You know my #1 issue: Our broken health care/health insurance system. I've been inveighing against the way we do things for over 25 years. But, you know what. Back then, the problem/the solution/the lack of political will were EXACTLY THE SAME as they are today. Gutless politicians on the payroll of insurance/big pharma/healthcos, people who count things determining how doctors practice medicine and who gets--and does NOT get--treatment all result in the 99%--that's US--getting screwed!! Read this article: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10926817-hospital-mom-booted-from-er-to-die-in-jail-was-treated-appropriately?ocid=twitter It's just one example of how "the best health care in the world" caused yet another person's death.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/business/aarp-study-says-price-of-popular-drugs-rose-26.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y The clue to why this report is important comes, no surprise, at the very end. Note the mention of the "doughnut hole." If you are not familiar with that term, it's the you-couldn't-make-this-stuff-up part of the prescription drug bill, written by a big pharma executive and passed during the 2nd administration of He Who Shall Not Be Named. The real effect of the doughnut hole is to repay to big pharma all the $$$ saved by seniors on their first $2,500 or so of prescription drug coverage. At that threshold, the doughnut hole opens, and seniors have to pay the full price of their drugs until the hole closes at about $5,000. THE FULL PRICE OF THEIR DRUGS!! Only in America could such a mean-spirited, head-up-the-ass provision pass. As the reporter notes, the increases reported by the AARP mean that seniors are propelled faster toward the yawning maw of the doughnut hole, so big pharma gets its $$$ even faster! The other point worth noting is generics. Any doctor or pharmacist will tell you, if asked, that many generics are less potent or efficacious than the full-strength name brand variant. So, no surprise that they cost less. Pay special attention, too, to the fact that insurance companies report paying out more for name-brand drugs. Who do you think will make up this "loss" experienced by the insurance companies? IT'S ALL OF US!! Read this article and understand an important reason why health care and health insurance costs continue to rise.