Alice In A Health Care Wonderland

Investors.com ^ | March 1, 2010 | The great THOMAS SOWELL

[Kaslin]

Most discussions of health care are like something out of Alice in Wonderland.

What is the biggest complaint about the current medical care situation? "It costs too much." Yet one looks in vain for anything in the pending legislation that will lower those costs.

One of the biggest reasons for higher medical costs is that somebody else is paying those costs, whether an insurance company or the government. What is the politicians' answer? To have more costs paid by insurance companies and the government.

Back when the "single payer" was the patient, people were more selective in what they spent their own money on. You went to a doctor when you had a broken leg but not necessarily every time you had the sniffles or a skin rash.

But when someone else is paying, that is when medical care gets over-used — and bureaucratic rationing is then imposed, to replace self-rationing.

[Kaslin]

Ping

[jazusamo]

Dr. Sowell nails this!

Thanks for the ping, Kaslin.

*PING*
Thomas Sowell

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Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to or removed from the Thomas Sowell ping list…

[Kaslin]

You are very welcome :)

[marktwain]

Sowell will never run for office. He is way too smart for that. The man is brilliant.

[Skepolitic]

The bottom line is that many, many people generally don’t want insurance, they want free medical services ... and that includes a whole lot of conservative geezers as well as liberal Obamatons.

[hosepipe]

Happy UN-Death Day to you.. to you... {like that}...
Obama is late for a very important date..

[Hunton Peck]

You’re right — which is one of the reasons this column deserves this bump.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

"Most discussions of health care are like
something out of Alice in Wonderland."

Someone needs to check on what they
have been smoking in that hookah.

[oldbrowser]

The bottom line is that many, many people generally don’t want insurance, they want free medical services

That is when the old saying "you get what you pay for" kicks in.

If we get government mandated low priced insurance, that is the quality of medical care we are going to receive.

[GOP_Raider]

Sort of straying from the current topic, if anyone has a complete list of Sowell’s books I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

[GOP_Raider]

Similarly, if it costs a billion dollars to create one new pharmaceutical drug, then either we are going to pay the billion dollars or we are not going to keep on getting new pharmaceutical drugs produced.

I'm really happy Sowell brought this up. Forgive the anecdote, but I have a very leftist co-worker. Well, I have several of them, but one in particular was just whining about how expensive some prescription drugs are and how "fat cats" at pharmaceutical companies are making "record profits". I wanted to throw something at him, but I also didn't want to get fired over someone else's lazy opinion forming.

Anyway, as I have understood it, the reason why Rx drugs cost as much as they do here is that American consumers are basically paying for all of the R&D costs and the FDA approvals--which is why Canada for example tends to have cheaper medications. I could have that wrong somewhere in the process, but that is how I understand it.

[backhoe]

More Alice in Wonderland comparisons being made of ObamaPosted by hillbuzz under Uncategorized | Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Obama, Obama in drag, Queen of Farts, Tim Burton Alice |
1 Comment 

We like to think we started the ball rolling on this meme, with the excellent work by Seapea depicting Dr. Utopia as we see him, “The Queen of Farts”,  clutching his pork-a-corn, happily strolling through the mess s/he’s made of our country:

The Queen of Hearts in her Golden Age of Hope and Change

But, it looks like other cartoonists are picking up on the Alice motif as the new Tim Burton movie gets closer to release.  For some reason, they’re drawing Dr. Utopia as the Mad Hatter, with Harry Reid as the White Rabbit (RAAACIST!) and Nancy Pelosi as the Queen of Hearts.  Joe Biden is the Doormouse (when we see him as a giant, ice-cream devouring, caterpillar). Pelosi and Reid are the Tweedles, clearly, not the WR and QoH.  And with giant mushrooms looking so phallic in a cartoon like this, we can only imagine Rahm Emanuel rolling around on the ground salivating, as a Wonderland ballerina wishing he was back at Studio 54, where Truman Capote once took him over the moon to his own very personal “Wonderland”.

February 26, 2010 at 12:29 am

What do you guys think? Did Obama hang himself with his brainstorm to hold the Health Care Summit?

"...he crashed and burned. Couldn’t happen to a nicer wannabe dictator..."

"Just proved what an absolute idiotic moron he really is…"

[rockinqsranch]

Thanks for the ping jaz.

[stephenjohnbanker]

“Back when the “single payer” was the patient, people were more selective in what they spent their own money on. You went to a doctor when you had a broken leg but not necessarily every time you had the sniffles or a skin rash.

But when someone else is paying, that is when medical care gets over-used — and bureaucratic rationing is then imposed, to replace self-rationing.”

There you are.

[Mama Shawna]

Read this column from my IBD email, posted it to my facebook page, come to FR and am pinged on the same article. This man should be required reading for EVERYONE! IBD also has another article today with Dr. Sowell being interviewed about various things. Great stuff!

[jazusamo]

I believe this link will list about everything that Dr. Sowell has written.

http://www.tsowell.com/

I have read that basically we pay for most of the R&D also and that’s why other countries buy drugs cheaper. Like you I don’t know for a fact that’s true.

[DuncanWaring]

His collected writings:

http://www.tsowell.com/writings.html