(If you’re just joining this series, feel free to read the previous installments.)
Check Your Health Care Premises (Part 2)
In the previous article, after establishing that our current healthcare system is indeed broken, I asked that we check our premises and, instead of knee-jerkingly blaming the Free-Enterprise System for our healthcare woes and asking for a government solution (which is what Universal Health Care would be – the government in complete control of your and your children’s health care – though solution would certainly be an incorrect word), that we go back and look at its true cause.
The question is: is it the Free Enterprise System that destroyed our health care system?
Let’s take a quick look back about 50 or so years ago. At that time, our U.S. healthcare system was basically market-driven. What were the results? Well, let’s see; practically all Americans who wanted health insurance had it. It was affordable. Doctor’s offices weren’t reminiscent of Grand Central Station. In fact, doctors actually were known to make house calls. People who were less fortunate financially could always find a doctor or hospital that allowed them to pay via sliding scale. Many towns had free and low cost clinics where doctors and nurses volunteered several hours per week. And, hospitals? Well, if you recall, practically every major city had at least one charity hospital. Not too shabby, right?
Was anyone ever “left out in the cold?” Unfortunately, yes. Utopia – even in our great country – has never been an option. However, when it came to our Healthcare system, it was pretty darn close. Certainly more so than at any other place and time in history before or since.
And, then, a funny thing happened on the way to our healthcare system breakdown . . .
Government got involved. Really involved. I mean, really, really involved. As usual, they decided they knew more about how the market operates than . . . the market.
So, between excessive regulation of private health insurance, coverage mandates, lack of price competition for medical services, Medicare, Medicaid, government-forced reliance on third-party payers, more rules, more regulations, more taxes, etc. we have been driven into a system in which far too many American families go without any kind of health coverage because they simply cannot afford it.
Was this government’s purpose? Surely not. It’s just what they do. They take either non-existent, slight problems, or even legitimate problems, and they turn them into national disasters.
So, now, government is being asked to come to the rescue, and they will gladly oblige. Did you notice last year’s Presidential Campaign? Candidates Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Romney (yes, Republicans, too; plenty of them) and others. They all had the government solution to your healthcare woes.
Irony Break: putting this into healthcare vernacular, could we not say that government has broken our legs and is now being asked to fix them? Sure, they’ll give us crutches and then say, “See, if it wasn’t for us, you wouldn’t be able to walk.”
The point: Free Enterprise did not give us our current “Sicko” healthcare system; government intervention did.
Again, let’s think about this. Government caused the problem, and we want government to fix the problem that they caused? Does that make sense?
In the next article, we’ll take a look at Universal Healthcare and see what kind of results we could expect, based on the experience of other countries that have tried it.
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Ahhhh, the Snake Oil of the Solution Brokers is now taking another form.
It doesn’t matter WHAT the question is, more and more of American society is using Government as the “Google” for the answer.
Think about it, folks, the people who solve the most complex problems are (rightfully) the highest-paid, most intelligent and most successful people in the country (always the minority).
Government officials, by definition, are elected by a majority of some kind – a majority that identifies with the candidate.
That government official CAN NOT, by that definition, be more intelligent than the average constituent that elected them!!!
Therefore, government is next to NEVER the solution to ANY problem.
This really isn’t an emotional issue for us producers, for we will do what our Founding Fathers did in times of an oppresive government – leave!!
They risked a deadly sea voyage for liberty – I can risk a plane ticket!! 😉
-D
Good point.
The government will always approach issues as if they are the solution.
I’ve got a question for you Bob – maybe the subject of a new post.
You say that government is never the solution to any problem.
What about education? Do you believe that the private sector can provide? Think 1950’s….Alabama…poverty…… How would the private sector provide education for people in that situation?
What say you?
Neal, that WILL indeed be the subject of a future posting. It’s a few topics away, but is definitely planned. By the way, as with practically everything else, not only would a free-market approach to education be more positive in practically every way imaginable than our present educational system which is run and controlled by the government, but it would be much, much better for the poor who currently suffer the most; this in a system which is supposed to be equal for all.
Thank you for bringing this up and I’ll look forward to your commentary when the article series on education is eventually posted.
Could it not also be said that the costs of malpractice insurance thanks to the intervention of trial lawyers in medicine caused some of our woes? Many doctors have been forced out of general practice due to the rising costs of this insurance.
Hi Mary Ellen, it certainly hasn’t helped the situation, however, I see it more as simply being another symptom in a system that has been thrown totally “out of whack” through huge government interference. In a true free-market context it would have been very difficult for trial lawyers to have gotten such a hold into the system. Still, you make an excellent point! Thank you for sharing.