From Thomas Sowell:
Let’s start at square one. Why is there alarm about American medical care? The most usual reason given is because its cost is high and rising.
That is certainly true. We were not spending nearly as much on high-tech medical procedures in the past because there were not nearly as many of them, and we were not spending anything at all on some of the new pharmaceutical drugs because they didn’t exist.
This general pattern is not peculiar to medical care. Cars didn’t cost nearly as much in the past, when they didn’t have air-conditioning, power steering and high-tech safety features. Homes were cheaper when they were smaller, had fewer bathrooms and lacked such conveniences as built-in microwave ovens.
We would like to have all these things without the rising costs that come with them. But only with medical care is such wishful thinking taken seriously, with government regarded as a sort of fairy godmother who will give us the benefits without the costs.
Leave it to an economist to put it in perspective. Obama and the Democrats socialization of medicine will eliminate the health care that we have become accustomed to. Even your if you desire to pay the price will be hindered as its availablility will not be the same. You are going to have to tell your congressmen not to do this. Those that voted for cap and tax will likely be voting to take over your health care.
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This post was written by bobsikes on June 30, 2009
Wow, talk about missing the point. The point is that many people cannot afford health care. This is a problem when companies are cutting benefits to bare bones or simply completely. Add in the fact that the younger professionals will exist in a world where they have gigantic student loans to pay off that are not optional (cannot declare bankruptcy and clear the slate) and suddenly must be forced to find their own costly benefits. Suddenly costly becomes unattainable because between food, housing, and loans to get the job in the first place nothing is left over to catch cancer in time. This is true for adults without six figure jobs, kids, and a mortgage as well. Sometimes the economics misses the point of the service, to provide for a healthy population, not a healthy bottom line.
Sorry to break this up. But to continue. The problem obviously with my argument above is then the system can become to costly. There is also the issue of paying the doctors enough so that they can pay their own insurance (whose rates are perhaps more ridiculous). Simply put the system is broken. It is not just the new technology, but an industry that has gotten out of control as little has been done to curb increase in rates for increase in profits without necessarily offering an improved or decent service (and thus the downfall of social services in the private sector). The answer is not an unregulated industry that holds the customer hostage. I do not know if health care run by the government can run as smoothly in this country as it can in European counties and Canada (yes, they have problems, but the system still works without costing way too much as people here seem to think it will), but I do not think our political environment would be able to run it without then holding the system hostage as each political side grabs for power every two years. The answer must exist somewhere in between those two points. The question is where.
I’d like to where, too. But my own assessment effects trial lawyers – long time DNC cash cows. Gov’t intervention has been shown to not work as Medicare/Medicade is insolvent. Obama/Dem care will only lead to rationing. Adjustments needs not come from the delivery end, but in the legislative end that enriches lawyers and drives insurance plus care costs skyward – Bob