Health Care Reform and Investing

This newsletter will be relatively short and covers the impact of health care reform legislation and investment strategy. First an update on performance of investments using the current investment strategy for an economy that is stabile and preparing to grow. CONGRATULATIONS, all of the accounts are doing very well, growing nicely. At the end are some health care facts for your enjoyment.

If the health care reform legislation passes today will it alter my investment strategy? While this is very important for numerous reasons and may impact us in the future, it will not change the current investment strategy. The reason is that the impact of the legislation will occur with time such that it will not significantly alter the performance of the economy. The most important thing to do is to understand the legislation and the impact on a personal level.

US Health Care Facts

• The United States is the only industrialized country in the world without a universal health insurance system.
• Half of all bankruptcies are caused by medical bills. Three-quarters of those filings are people with health insurance.
• U.S. health care spending is approximately $2 trillion per year, or $6,697 per person. The United States continues to spend significantly more on health care than other countries in the world.
• Administrative costs account for 31 percent of all health care expenditures in the United States. The average overhead for U.S. private health insurers is 11.7 percent; for Medicare, it is 3.6 percent; for Canada’s national health insurance program, it is 1.3 percent.
• A baby born in El Salvador has a better chance of surviving than a baby in Detroit.
The infant mortality rate in Detroit is 15.5, compared to El Salvador's rate of 9.7.
• Canadians live three years longer on average than we do.
• There are four times as many health care lobbyists in Washington as there are members of Congress.
• Ninety percent of Americans believe the American health care system needs fundamental changes or needs to be completely rebuilt.