Monday, February 13, 2012

The First Step to Socialism

Last century, Americans self-funded their health care. People spent a great deal of time trying to figure out ways to build up equity so that they would have ready resources in time of need.

The community supplemented people's savings with charity.

When I was in college, I attended a lecture by a Marxist professor. He imparted on me an idea that sounded absurd at the time: He told the class that the very first step to transforming a free society to a communist society was to self people on the concept of insurance. (by insurance, I mean group funding of individual consumption).

He then presented a number of scenarios. In every scenario, as soon as a people accepted a third party into health care, the society was doomed to become a socialist nation within two to three generations.

I ended up working in the insurance industry as a computer programmer.  All the data I saw verified exactly what my Marxist professor said. Pooled insurance transfers massives amounts of wealth from the middle class to the upper class. When the middle class is reduced to dependency on the insurance company, they end up calling for socialization of the insurance company.

In Das Kapital, Marx taught his followers to use the tools of their enemies to destroy their enemies. Please read your history. Marx was the father of capitalism. Marx's goal in writing Das Kapital was to create a version of the free market that would collapse into capitalism.

I do not share my professor's hatred of America. I love the founders and the American experiment in self-governance.

So, I turned his thesis upside-down. If the very first step to imposing socialism was to sell insurance; then the very first step to restoring freedom is to re-introduce the concept of self-financed health care.

So, I dedicated myself to creating a mathematically solid mechanism for unrolling an insurance pool into individual accounts in a manner that would restore the concept of self-funded care.

The Medical Savings and Loan is an actuarially solid mechanism for self-funding health care.

It has the same amount of money as insurance. It transfers resources from the healthy to the sick, just like insurance. Unlike insurance, the policyholders retain direct control of their principle (this reverses the transfer of wealth strengthening the middle class). People will negotiate prices directly with providers, restoring the pricing mechanism in health care.

The mathematics of the system is clever. I've designed a complex system to unroll a group pool into individual accounts with minimal disruption.

The cleverness of the math aside. The real goal of this program is to re-introduce the concept of self funded care.
Our freedom is hanging by a thread. I believe strongly that if a dedicated group began an organized dialogue about self-funded care, that we could America back on the track of freedom.

The cost of engaging in a conversation is minimal. Apparently, the extreme hard part of this endeavor is finding a dozen people who want to preserve American freedom.

It is likely that some of the people engaging in the conversation will make money by having engaged in the conversation.

The Tea Party is filled with people who want to save their freedom. I keep hoping that some tea party group will want to fund

My Marxist professor was right about insurance. As long as a people expect a third party to provide care, we are doomed to a slow and painful progression to socialism.

The path for restoring freedom would start by re-introducing the concept of self-funded health care.
My dream for the last four years has been simply to get a dozen people in a room to talk about self financed health care. If the group likes the idea, then the group would form an association to promote the concept of self-funded care.

Arizona would be the ideal place to house such an association. So, I am still interested in traveling to Arizona. Someone could contact me. I have a fun presentation and a fun fundraiser to get the money for the trip. The program would be a fun part of a tea party rally or part of the Campaign for Liberty.

In conclusion, if insurance is the first step toward socialism; then the first step to freedom is to re-introduce the concept of freedom. The first step is scary, but I can assure that any brave soul who can get a dozen patriots in a room to talk about health freedom will have a fun time taking the step.

2 comments:

  1. hmmm, Marx was the father of capitalism, 1st I've heard of that one. Anyway, is the MSL essentially an HSA? Trying to understand the differences. If it already exists, we would not be pioneering anything.

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  2. Long ago I did a comparison read between "The Wealth of Nations" and "Das Kaptial."

    The comparison read affected my thinking.

    I am not sure how well this observation advances the cause of freedom.

    I've successfully turned young progressives against the left by pointing out that they image they had of the free market was created by Marx.

    I've also found that I can, sometimes, get conservatives to question their understanding of economics by emphasizing this point.

    I've had success with this comparison. Others are turned off by it. One of the questions I would have for any group is if the comparison is worthwhile.

    The comparison might play a role in positioning the Medical Savings and Loan against the health exchanges, I can show how the exchanges implement Marxian thought on health care, and the MS&L implements the thoughts of Adam Smith and US founders.

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