On Monday the price of mailing a one-ounce First Class letter using the United States Postal Service increased to 44 cents. This represents a fifteen-fold (1,100%) increase over the past 51 years. We have experienced the similar, dramatic cost increases with health care and education since the federal government began to interfere in each.

On Monday President Barack Obama announced that he would take more control of our health care. This was in spite of a $1.8 trillion dollar federal government deficit for this year that was also announced on Monday.

President Obama claims he can reduce health care costs simply with much more federal intervention and control. As the insertion of more bureaucracy has never caused anything to cost less, and certainly not become a better value, we must assume President Obama is not telling the whole story. This perception was greatly enhanced when Obama refused any questions following his pronouncement.

How can President Obama cut health care costs? He can only do this by rationing and denying care. His new fancy computer system for health care will basically tell physicians and hospitals what medical and surgical problems can be treated and which cannot. People whose ages exceed a certain number and who have specific other medical or surgical problems will be increasingly denied health care services.

Lowering the Medicare reimbursement for physicians so low they cannot afford to care for Medicare patients has already decreased the ability of many patients to access high-quality medical care--or any medical care at all. This has been a very clever unscrupulous move by politicians and bureaucrats, as it has successfully created another highly effective rationing tool. It prevents many elderly and disabled from even getting in line for care.

The solutions for health care financing are quite simple. Health care needs to be returned to the basic economic principles that govern the sale of the other necessities of life, including food and housing. Free markets work and bureaucracy and socialism do not.

Personal responsibility is essential to saving health care and to an ownership society. Medical savings accounts for health care and personal investment accounts for Social Security are major reform steps on the road to an ownership society. As most people do not understand economics and fear change, any reasonable solutions will be difficult to implement.

Our elected officials must find the courage to return health care, retirement, and other personal decisions to the people as the people can best make their own decisions. The ownership of health care and retirement funds are essential steps in the return to a free and economically successful society.