Maggie's Farm

Regarding our little tike and the services he'll work thirty years to pay for: sorry, guys, those services are pretty trivial in the health care cost equation. Even the additional 30 to 45 million people are not going to be that big a boost in health care costs or spending.
That's because the vast majority of health-care spending is big-ticket diagnoses like cancer and heart disease and long-term care for the disabled, including the elderly who can't care for themselves. Most of that care is already occuring and already getting paid for by various programs.
Lest you think I say this to support Dem-care, I have an honorable history of opposition to this program. I oppose it for policy reasons, because I think the costs are going to get shifted into stifling modes, and because it's a desparate blow against freedom. But the additional costs will be smaller than a lot of people think. Or they'll be bigger because of stupid management of the big-ticket costs.
You just can't spend as much on people with tonsillectomies, tattoo removals and even elective abortions as you spend on cancer, stroke, heart disease, diabetes ... nor are these diseases primarily life-style, despite propaganda. A healthy diet and exercise will help some, but we're all going to die of something. And most of us are going to try to postpone it, and to stay as comfortable as we can until it happens. THat's not greed or superficial; it's a normal desire to live well.