My Thoughts On Government & Healthcare
A friend started a discussion recently on the topic of currently proposed health care reforms. There will be another ‘regular’ post yet this week. But I wanted to share the thoughts I shared with him, with you. I would be interested in -your- responses. Do you fundamentally agree, or no? Either way, why?
Here are some of my thoughts:
I would suggest -government- is itself the single largest source of many of these symptomatic [health care] problems.
Consider, the Constitution specifically sets out that there should be no state boundary prohibiting free trade. Yet, Congress, somehow managed to over-ride that provision, and tied the insurance companies’ hands, constraining them from cross-state border competition.
If you’re in Michigan, because of Michigan law, you can actually spend more paying for uninsured motorists (I know, not purely ‘health’ oriented). Last year, I spent $804 to insure motorcycles for a year, $408 was to insure -other- people.
Government exists to help ensure we have a ‘reasonably’ level playing field for ‘safe’ (not necessarily fair) competition. Increasingly, government is intruding and overstepping its roles. We know, if you increase competition, prices tend to fall and quality increases. Autos are a prime example. They’re all very price competitive and quality’s way up from where it was.
What we need government to do is loosen competitive restrictions -and- mitigate liability for non-criminal practice. For instance, no doctor wants to earn $300K/year, just to pay $150K in malpractice insurance.
There’s a role for government and its -not- to compete with its own constituency.
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3 Responses to “My Thoughts On Government & Healthcare”
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JT Pedersen
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I think that everyone would agree that health care should be easier to obtain. The real issue is government involvement. When in the history of our country has government involvement actually made a bad situation better?
I really hope this health care bill does not pass. More government involvement is not the answer. No government in the history of mankind has been able successfully implement something like this. This has disaster written all over it.
I tend to be on the more drastic side of the equation. America is the greatest place to live on this planet because it offers the opportunity to make yourself into whatever you are willing and able to get off your rear end and accomplish. The United States of America is the oldest single standing government in the world bar none. Among the reasons for this is the fact that our government has always been less of a burden to its people than those of other governments. The tax burden of a Single Payer system is brutally oppressive to say the least. There are many perfect examples of this across the globe. People with “Free” healthcare come to the United States in large numbers to seek better, and quicker, care than what the system they live under can offer them.
I don’t believe we should “Provide” healthcare for anyone over and above what we do right now. Shocked? Why? Right now anyone of us can walk into a hospital and get medical care without the fear of being turned away. Illegal immigrants do this every day. No, they, the uninsured, will probably not get top of the line medical care like a person with insurance nor will they be dying on the streets. While there are many valid points to argue about healthcare my core argument is the same with this as it is with many other issues this great country faces today, accountability for one’s own actions, or the lack there of. We have become a society of “I deserve…”, “I want…”, and “You owe me…” all of which we want right now! I recently read a book which had a race of people in it which were very strong in the use of magic. They could use magic to get anything they wanted simply by speaking a few words. When an outsider asked one of these magic users why they were doing a particularly arduous piece of work the “old fashion” way they answered: “If you can have anything you desire simply by uttering a few words the end result matters not. It’s the journey that matters most.” This is the key ingredient the past couple generations, including my own, is missing. We want, without the work. What makes this country the best is the work put into it each and every day. Nothing worth having comes free of charge, and I mean nothing.
Nearly all the problems we currently suffer in the healthcare industry stem from politicians putting their hands were they do not belong, nor have the right to be. We the consumer must be smart enough and have enough backbone to stand up and say “I don’t need your product at that price, or lack of quality.” Until then, we will be at the mercy of those whom will, and have done for some time now.
I’m not surprised we have this problem. We live in the freest country in the world where more people don’t vote than do. I hope and pray people start paying attention to what is being said, and even more attention to what’s NOT being said and should be. Listen to more than one source of information and decide for yourself what is real and what is not. Put less faith in media and more in the research you do for yourself.
While there are pages worth of response I could put down here I’ll leave you with this thought. If our government is responsible, or it’s a right for all, to have medical coverage supplied to them by the labors of others, than shouldn’t it be a Constitutional Amendment? By making healthcare a Constitutional Amendment it removes the greedy politicians and corporations from being the only ones to decide the fate of this country and the people they constantly fail to represent.
Karl Pedersen