Sharing Thoughts and Ideas - 2019 and newer

Accessing Health Care Witho ut Paying? Rick Olson April 2, 2025  On April 23, 2022 I published a post entitled   Solutions for Rapidly Rising Healthcare Costs .  As dramatic as Obamacare has been in getting more people insured for healthcare, it has done little, if any, to actually reduce the cost of health care. It merely shifted the costs of the "third party payer" system to someone else (and frequently to the taxpayer). If we wish to reduce costs, it seems logical to look where the costs are and focus on reducing those costs. With over 30% of the cost of health care in the United States being administrative costs caused by the complexity and volume of the insurance billing process, we need to look at reducing those costs which do not help anyone needing health care. With the administrative costs of Medicare estimated to be 6 - 7%, that looks more attractive. I now think we need to at least take a strong look at Medicare for All, or perhaps named "Americare for All...

 A Thoughtful Approach to Cutting MN State Expenditures Rick Olson April 1, 2025 One message voters last November 5 sent is that they are greatly concerned about their own pocketbooks. Polls have also revealed that many people believe that there is "waste, fraud and abuse" in federal and MN state spending. In reality, in MN, this can be broken down into three categories: Expenditures on things that some voters do not like on policy reasons, but the legislature has approved. Spending on things that most people support but may differ on levels of spending on those initiatives. Ineffective or insufficient oversight on expenditures approved.  Costs in the third category are not favored by few if any elected officials, as shown by the bipartisan efforts to provide better oversight of programs such as the massive fraud we saw with the Feeding our Future fiasco. I am hoping my financial and business background will assist the legislature make more effective constraints on future mis...

  Why would a former Republican like me run as a candidate of the DFL Party? Rick Olson April 1, 2025 That’s a valid question. I grew up in an era when rugged individualism was the culture, where through hard work and persistence people hoped to go from rags to riches in America where opportunity abounds. Then too, we were taught that the results you achieved were primarily caused by the choices you previously made, good or bad. In other words, if you failed or suffered misfortune, it was mostly your fault. In other words, your fate was your personal responsibility. Through my undergraduate and graduate school study of economics, I strongly believed in private enterprise/capitalism as the economic system that was most efficient and would produce the most goods and services for the most people. Capitalism has raised more people out of poverty than any other system. For example, look at China once elements of capitalism were allowed there. This set of beliefs fits well into the tradi...

  Why I am running for MN State Senate District 54 Rick Olson April 1, 2025 Why I am running: I love our country. My dad died when I was two months old. My mom was left at the age of 39 with six kids to raise on welfare in the economically depressed Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Her mantra was, “Work hard and get an education.” All six of us ended up getting a college degree and all have done reasonably well in life. The opportunities that America gave my wife and me have allowed us to prosper. We have lived the American Dream. Thank you America! We have faced obstacles and hardships along the way but have tried to model the saying, “The measure of a man is what he does when things go wrong.” I.e., when adversity strikes, evaluate your options, choose and move on. We have worked hard and seized the opportunities to get a LOT of education. We have had great opportunities and challenges in our careers but have had the opportunity to raise our two boys and see them prosper as we...