Socialized Health Care in the USA

[kandrathe]

I noticed my favorite new socialist villain :), Paul Krugman, weighed in on his column today. He makes the case by lying with statistics, and citing one question in a CBS/NYT poll, "While 85 percent of respondents said the health care system needed to be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt, 77 percent said they were very or somewhat satisfied with the quality of their own care." He also failed to mention that the poll results revealed "considerable unease about the impact of heightened government involvement, on both the economy and the quality of the respondents’ own medical care."

David Brooks, also of the NYT, offers an alternative analysis, "We’ve built an entire health care system (maybe an entire government) on the illusion of something for nothing. Instead of tackling that basic logic, we’ve got a reform process that is trying to evade it."

I believe we got into our mess when employers (and union demands) started offering health insurance as an employment benefit. Insurance companies keep pressing for higher rates and medical systems use the latest and greatest technology, drugs, and procedures which is their capitalist purpose. The unemployed, result in a large group of people who are without health insurance, and cannot afford to pay for health care due to the exorbitant price. A price which is not based upon what an individual would pay, but supported by the insurance market (which is funded by payroll deductions, and employers). Government also contributes to the rising price of care due to their massive social programs which means that consumers do not make spending on care decisions based upon price. The result is we have the *best*, most expensive health care in the world.

My position is probably draconian, but I believe we need to move towards a system where families pay out of their own pockets for either their care or their insurance. Keep the employers and the government out of manipulations of the health care industry. This way the consumer will again drive the market, and the again help to determine the price and products. Governments role should be limited to helping people who cannot afford to pay for basic coverage (with an allowance or tax deductions). The difficult (nigh impossible) part would be to transition from the mess we have now, to a system that is rationalized by supply and demand.