Today in the Fort Worth Star Telegram there was an article that said the cost of health care for illegal aliens during the fiscal year 2005-06 was $678 million. I am curious as to how insurance would have reduced that amount. It is doubtful to me that many of the illegal aliens would pay for the insurance, so the state would pay for it. Insurance just affects who pays for care, not the cost of the care. Actually, the existence of insurance would probably increase the demand for care.

Barack Obama says he will reduce the amount of money spent on health care by preventative medicine. That is curious to me, since preventive care will obviously not reduce the total healthcare cost. It will certainly increase the cost eventually. Perhaps the most effective preventive measure is not smoking. This saves money rather than costing more. Next would include a good exercise program and weight management. Again these are not expensive. But, the people who practice these things probably wind up spending more on health care as they age than those who smoke and don't exercise, and die suddenly while still relatively young. I think an argument can be made that it is better for society to keep people productive for as long as possible, given the huge investment in raising and educating them, but I doubt that they will end up having spent more on healthcare over the course of their life.