I want everyone to have medical care, too. I just don’t think nationalized health care is the way to do it. That way leads to health care rationing and bureaucracy. The free market combined with private charity can address our health needs much better than top down government controlled care.
There are many problems with health care, and many of them are caused by government interference. Government mandates that insurance cover all sorts of things that customers may not want or ever need, and government mandates prevent insurance policies from being easily portable across state lines.
Insurance also isn’t meant to cover every expense. Try buying an auto insurance policy that covers gas and oil changes. Yet, we expect health insurance (or the government) to cover every medical expense? That’s really going to be expensive.
If the free market was allowed to set prices and people were allowed to buy insurance policies that were tailored to their actual needs, I think most of this doctor’s concerns would be answered. Eliminate the bureaucracy and the cost of care would likely be reduced considerably.
Finally, we have to remember that in a free society each individual is ultimately responsible for themselves. No one has an obligation to take care of me. I’m responsible for my own health care decisions, and if that means I have to work harder, forgo certain comforts to afford paying for care, or ask (not demand) my fellow humans for charity, so be it.
In the case cited by the doctor, we don’t know what kind of spending decisions the guy with colon cancer made before he got to his dire situation. A colonoscopy, for example, is far less expensive than treatment for late stage cancer, but the individual had to make that a priority back when he was healthy. Also, we don’t know the man’s medical history. Did colon cancer run in his family? Did he smoke (a big risk factor in colon cancer)? If so, then that colonoscopy should have been a priority over spending on other things.
In Socialist countries, there aren’t many private charities. I once had an LATimes columnist, on a radio program, tell me that I shouldn’t have control of my own charitable giving because ‘I might not donate to the right charities’. Yep, that’s how they think. They KNOW BETTER than we peons (maybe that should be pee-ons), where ALL the money should go.
Thanks to all your comments, when someone now Googles this article, they will see this FR thread and each of your comments. Thank you. You have performed a public service.
Amen.