A response to my .sig forwarded to the list because this is a "hot" issue with cypherpunk implications. My improved HSA93 .sig: "The $1,000,000,000,000 a year Health Security Act of 1993 -- the most expensive government program in the history of mankind." The response: W >1 Trillion 1993-dollars is about 300 billion 1980-dollars - how much W >was the government spending then? I don't think prices have increased by more than 300% since 1980. General price inflation during most of the 80s was in the 4% or lower range per year. During the '80s, the Fed and State governments spent about 40% of the US health care dollars. Total 1992 spending public & private was circa $850 billion. Which would make government spending about $350 billion which I think it was. By January 1, 1997 when HSA93 is due to take full effect, health spending including inflation and the $70-$100 Billion in extra annual spending Slick Willie has plotted will push annual health spending up to circa $1,000,000,000,000.00 per annum. Granted, my .sig is marketing puffery. Note it does *not* say that the government will spend $1x10^12, but since the *program* is designed to encompass the whole health "system" it is correct to characterize the cost (to someone) of the program as $1x10^12 per year. They want the credit, they deserve the blame. W >World War II was much more expensive - maybe fewer direct dollars W >(even inflation-adjusted), but the cost in human lives was W >staggering, and even if you only value those lives in terms of lost W >earnings and losses to the market from lost consumption, that's a huge W >cost. (Don't know what it is, but it's likely to be much larger than W >the $1T/year times the 2-3 more years before Clinton gets thrown out on W >his ear :-) WWII was over in 5 years. HSA93 (like a baseball game) *could* go on forever. Also, we don't know how many people have died because of medical regulation (though, of course, medical regulation is larger in scope even than HSA93). Could be more than WWII. I don't expect the system to last that long, however. Duncan Frissell "If they want a name give them a name, if they want an address give them an address, if they want an SSN give them an SSN, if they want a Health Security Smartcard programmed with your entire medical and psychiatric history + xrays + CAT scans + MRIs + your genotype; give them a puddle of melted aluminum." --- WinQwk 2.0b#0