Today Health Care, Tomorrow the World...

Maybe the coffee hasn't taken effect, or maybe it's exhaustion, but I think the fact that now a majority of us WANT government health care has guaranteed that we'll go and mess it up.

Yeah - who are you and what have you done with the real Echo4Mike? No, hear me out...

The idea has long existed that government should tackle unprofitable enterprises that benefit life and liberty, and/or benefit commerce. The Interstate Highway system and NASA (and its precursor, NACA) are excellent examples of taxpayer outlay that ended up bringing about the American Century.

So the idea grew that the twin capital sinks of health insurance and health care might have a place in government. A healthy populace is a productive populace, while an unhealthy populace is essentially immoral - it's one of the true black-and-white issues of our time.

And let's give credit where credit is due. The alternative view - that health care should be privately paid for and that the poor should die - has had its time on the stage, both in the past and in the modern, industrialized world. I think at the very least, that while we might not agree on the conclusions of the experiment, we can certainly agree that it's gotten a significant trial period.

So after decades, the idea is getting some traction. And now, after decades of no progress, no plan, no strategy, no study of successful models and no idea how to transition from largely regional models of privately-managed and fenced-ff patient and provider pools, the public is starting to demand that we Do Something.

I've made two successful predictions in my life. 1. Buster Douglas will mop up the ring with Mike Tyson. 2. This World Wide Web Thing will change everything. I'd like to make Big Prediction #3: Unless some serious thought is given over the next 12-24 months about the caduceus - like twin snakes of health care and health insurance, we will do it wrong, and in a way that'll make some of our more misguided adventures look like child's play...