Posted on 07/20/2009 9:00:21 PM PDT by jazusamo
Is there a coherent argument for government-controlled medical care or are slogans and hysteria considered sufficient?
We hear endlessly about how many Americans don't have health insurance. But, if we stop and think — which politicians hope we never do — that raises the question as to why that calls for government-controlled medical care.
A bigger question is whether medical care will be better or worse after the government takes it over. There are many available facts relevant to those crucial questions but remarkably little interest in those facts.
There are facts about the massive government-run medical programs already in existence in the United States — Medicare, Medicaid and veterans' hospitals — as well as government-run medical systems in other countries.
None of the people who are trying to rush government-run medical care through Congress before we have time to think about it are pointing to Medicare, Medicaid or veterans' hospitals as shining examples of how wonderful we can expect government medical care to be when it becomes "universal."
As for those uninsured Americans we keep hearing about, there is remarkably little interest in why they don't have insurance. It cannot be poverty, for the poor can automatically get Medicaid.
In fact, we already know that there are people with substantial incomes who choose to spend those incomes on other things, especially if they are young and in good health. If necessary, they can always go to a hospital emergency room and receive treatment there, whether or not they have insurance.
Here, the advocates of government-run medical care say that we all end up paying, one way or another, for the free medical care that hospitals are forced by law to provide in their emergency rooms. But unless you think that any situation you don't like is a reason to give politicians a blank check for "change," the relevant question becomes whether the alternative is either less expensive or of better quality. Nothing is cheaper just because part of the price is paid in higher taxes.
Such questions seldom get asked, much less answered. We are like someone being rushed by a used car dealer to sign on the dotted line. But getting stuck with a car that is a lemon is nothing compared to signing away your right to decide what medical care you or your loved ones will get in life and death situations.
Politicians can throw rhetoric around about "bringing down the cost of health care" or they can even throw numbers around. But the numbers that politicians are throwing around don't match the numbers that the Congressional Budget Office finds when it analyzes the hard data.
An old advertising slogan said, "Progress is our most important product." With politicians, confusion is their most important product. They confuse bringing down the price of medical care with bringing down the cost. And they confuse medical care with health care.
Nothing is easier than for governments to impose price controls. They have been doing this, off an on, for thousands of years — repeatedly resulting in (1) shortages, (2) quality deterioration and (3) black markets. Why would anyone want any of those things when it comes to medical care?
Refusing to pay the costs is not the same as bringing down the cost. That is why price controls create these problems. When developing a new pharmaceutical drug costs roughly a billion dollars, you are either going to pay the billion dollars or cause people to stop spending a billion dollars to develop new drugs.
The confusion of "health care" with medical care is the crucial confusion. Years ago, a study showed that Mormons live a decade longer than other Americans. Are doctors who treat Mormons so much better than the doctors who treat the rest of us? Or do Mormons avoid doing a lot of things that shorten people's lives?
The point is that health care is largely in your hands. Medical care is in the hands of doctors. Things that depend on what doctors do — cancer survival rates, for example — are already better here than in countries with government-run medical systems. But, if political rhetoric prevails, we may yet sell our birthright and not even get the mess of pottage.
Thanks for the ping jaz.
Thanks for posting this...Mr. Sowell has an unparalleled ability to bring clarity to convoluted issues like sunlight through a fog!
What a mind...
Your absolutely right. Sowell could take any of Obama's half hour diatribes and totally destroy it in five or six well chosen sentences.
I suppose we need him in academia - but man, I'd like to cast a vote for him some how, some way.
Once again, Dr. Sowell has explained the problem clearly. He never fails to provide succinct arguments that I regularly steal when talking with my (few) liberal acquaintences. He is a national treasure.
Yes he has and he does it consistently. It truly requires a brilliant mind to explain difficult issues with such ease.
Why can’t we get Sowell to face Obama somehow? Why don’t we ever ever ever have anyone at press conferences to challenge this Marxist bastard. Sowell is so on the money as he ALWAYS is
I also like Manning's take....why do 280 million Americans have to give up their health care so that 42 million can get some?
You know that is where this is all headed. Cheap, lousy government care will price the good care out of the market (China care?). Government masters are using market principles to put us all under their knife.
China care with lead chips in it, who needs it?
I’m afraid you’re right, it is headed there. We’ll eventually end up just like Canada and Britain if Zer0 and the Rats get their foot in the door with this.
Oh My God.
There are facts about the massive government-run medical programs already in existence in the United States — Medicare, Medicaid and veterans' hospitals — as well as government-run medical systems in other countries.. . . We are like someone being rushed by a used car dealer to sign on the dotted line. But getting stuck with a car that is a lemon is nothing compared to signing away your right to decide what medical care you or your loved ones will get in life and death situations.
When Sowell is on his game . . .And it is so seldom that he is not. And this is not such an occasion.
I wonder if there's a way of getting a poster with Sowell's photo on it . . .
He’s on his game with this one...
He’d serve best as a regular guest on a national radio show.
The show host would have to be a good interviewer, and be able to ask appropriate questions to bring out Sowell’s wisdom on the topics of the day, disseminated to a large, a very large audience.
“As for those uninsured Americans we keep hearing about, there is remarkably little interest in why they don’t have insurance. It cannot be poverty, for the poor can automatically get Medicaid. “
BUMP!
I read the other day that something like 85% of people with insurance are HAPPY with their coverage. And really; where are the dead and dying in the streets who are denied assistance? Not a one to be found, fer Pete’s Sake! 0bama doesn’t even have ANYONE who is being denied care to trott out for public appearances on this topic! (Well, unless you count those that are being starved to death, ala Terry Schaivo! Grrrrrrr!)
I know I am VERY happy with my current coverage. I have a very affordable policy through my employer (who demanded a rate reduction last your...and GOT it!) which covers myself (rarely used) my husband’s monthly meds and all of his pre-existing conditions.
Government will do NOTHING but SCREW THIS UP!
This reminds me of a joke... Why do husbands die before their wives? BECAUSE THEY WANT TO!
I'm surprised that Mr. Sowell didn't draw a bead on the most deliberate confusion of all: The confusion of "health insurance" with "health care"
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Thomas Sowell provides the most logical and clearest critique of Obama/Pelosi medical care reform. The best ammunition against empty rhetoric! |
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Especially when half those 42 million are not Americans, in this country illegally.
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