Topic: Health Care
Partnership with Government Can Create Healthcare Nightmare For All This article is written as a response to Rep. Jim McDermott's Op/Ed piece endorsing socialized medicine.by Steven McDuffie
(Libertarian)
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) wrote a piece that appeared in my local newspaper endorsing socialized medicine. McDermott thinks he points out the indisputable fact that government had to step into the breach and cover poor children and seniors with programs like Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP, but he leaves out the fact that prior to these programs there were charity hospitals peppering the country, and doctors and nurses who devoted many hours per week working at these hospitals pro bono. I know this, because my father’s life was saved at one of these charity hospitals in Georgia back in the late 1940s. The charity hospitals were all but ended by Medicare/Medicaid, and nearly everyone reading this has known someone who has dealt with the nightmare of Medicare/Medicaid -- or government health care on the Indian reservations or in the Veteran’s Administration. McDermott has a tough job indeed if he is trying to convince Americans that government health care is a knight on a white horse.
Prior to 1965, the medical industry was completely free of government intervention, and health insurance was about as expensive as automobile insurance, corrected for inflation -- and there were many more options for consumers. Now, patients pay about 15% of the health care dollars spent in America -- and that out of pocket cost is more than three times what it was 40 years ago, corrected for inflation. About half of the remaining 85% of health care costs are paid for directly by the government, and nearly all of the other half is paid for indirectly by government either by tax deductibility or government subsidies. In other words, the American health care system is well over half socialized already. And whenever government gets involved in any industry, it causes market distortions, causing prices to rise, and availability -- and sometimes quality -- to either stagnate or fall.
Some people suggest that health care costs have risen as a result of an exponential increase in technology, but, in fact, the opposite can be proven. Look at any other industry and what you see is higher and higher levels of technology as the years go by, and similar or lower prices. For example, a Model T, when introduced, cost about as much as a 2008 base model Ford Focus (corrected for inflation), yet can anyone deny that the Ford Focus, with it’s power steering, power brakes, safety belts, AM/FM/CD player, tire pressure monitoring system, anti-theft system, tilt-steering, 2 speed windshield wipers, air conditioning and driver and passenger cup holders, is technologically superior to the Model T?
The facts are clear to anyone willing to look them up: the crisis in health care costs and availability was not a crisis until government intervention began; as government intervenes more and more in health care, the cost of health care increases. Readopting a free market in health care would lower cost and increase quality and availability. This isn’t a guess; this is a statement consistent with the facts of history. In the free market, companies are forced to compete with one another for customers. To do this, they must offer the best product or service at the lowest possible cost and the highest availability. When companies can go running to government for a handout, as under today’s system, they needn’t worry about keeping costs down or the availability of services high.
I am compelled to use the remainder of this article addressing a comment made by McDermott. McDermott, thinking he is making some erudite observation, said, "If anyone tells you that you can’t trust government, ask them who they trust to protect America from terrorist threats, protect consumers from unsafe products in the marketplace or protect airline travelers by ensuring we have safe skies."
First I must wonder if Rep. McDermott happened to be watching television at all on September 11th, 2001. With trillions of dollars of our tax money at their disposal, the world’s very most sophisticated surveillance equipment, and innumerable people charged with the sole job of protecting America from terrorist attacks, we witnessed the most colossal failure of government security in history. And this same government is telling us that another 9-11 is an inevitability.
Sorry, Rep. McDermott, I do not trust the government to protect us from terrorists, unless there are dramatic overhauls in our intelligence gathering agencies and foreign policy.
Additionally, Rep. McDermott apparently doesn’t realize that he has insulted every hard-working American business-person who owns a restaurant or has a service company or manufactures a product. How insulting it is for Rep. McDermott to suggest, for example, that honest, intelligent and patriotic American restauranteurs would gladly poison their customers for the sake of the bottom line but for government rules on food safety and the ever present threat of fines.
No, Rep. McDermott, I do not trust the government to ensure the safety of the products I buy. I trust the companies that sell those products and non-governmental groups like Consumer Reports, Underwriter’s Laboratory, etc. When there is a product safety issue, the government almost always finds out after it is discovered by the company itself, or by consumers; when there is a government mandated recall, it is almost always after the company’s own voluntary recall; and when the government fines a company, these fines are often a drop in the bucket compared to the punitive measures the free market has visited upon the company, (i.e. lost revenue as the result of bad media coverage).
Finally, Rep. McDermott implies that, if not for the government, airplanes would be falling out of the skies. To this, I can only wonder if Rep. McDermott truly believes that the airlines and airports do not have a profit seeking motive in keeping airplanes in the sky and air passengers safe. Or is he talking about the TSA? The same TSA which failed so many of their own security tests, that they started sending out memos to their screeners letting them know they would be tested on a particular day, and the description of the suspicious person they were to look for? If this is the type of competence that’s to be expected from the government then Heaven help us all.
This issue isn’t really about health care at all. The issue is two entirely different ideas about the role of government in our lives. McDermott apparently believes that government is, to quote the 19th century French economist, Frédéric Bastiat, a device "through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." While I, on the other hand believe that government is, to quote George Washington, "a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
Steven McDuffie is an Independent Candidate for US House of Representatives in Colorado's 3rd District. He is currently seeking the nomination of the Libertarian Party.
The views expressed in this
article are those of Steven McDuffie only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Steven McDuffie is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
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