Why a single payer system is a bad idea to give us affordable health care. Government monopolies raise costs and do nothing to actually lower the cost of the care. by Steve Jones
(libertarian)
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Over the last few years Americans have been continuously straddled with higher and higher health care costs. Many children are left without insurance, many turned away from vital health care due to a lack of coverage or financial means to pay the doctors bills. This situation has caused some debate in congress and elsewhere concerning the rectification of this problem. Unfortunately one popular solution is to create a single payer system which would provide coverage to all, regardless of financial or health status. This government run system further ignores the root cause of the issue, and does absolutely nothing to address it. To demonstrate why it would be a disaster, all we must do is look to other examples of enterprise where government has taken the reins and complicated the situation.
Education is one issue that the government has control over. The question must be asked, why does it cost the government twelve thousand dollars to teach our children? It costs the private sector an average of six thousand dollars a year. This is point number one. Money spent on government run schools is used half as efficiently as in the private sector.
Another point is that in government run schools the options for the consumer are very limited. Districts are divided, students are placed geographically teachers are assigned, not hired by the person being taught, therefore the accountability is low, and our children walk out of the classroom with a diploma, however many of which cannot read or write or do basic math. A monopoly whether government run or otherwise is bad for the consumer. It is also a great forum for propaganda to be spread to our most vulnerable.
The real cost of health care comes from 2 primary factors. Government regulation, and a lack of competition as a result in government involvement in the first place. If it costs the average person 500 dollars to go to the emergency room, how many would go for a bruised elbow? This is simple economics. The only way the hospital could get people to use their service is to lower the cost. The issue is that since people are insured at work, they really have no idea how much the hospital bills are. Government gives tax advantages to corporations to insure their employees. If consumers were given the same advantages, health care costs would go down.
Prescriptions are expensive in part because there is so much regulation by the FDA. It takes years and years of research and testing. The private sector could do so much better. One thing that many don’t understand is that insurance is for emergency only. High deductible plans, if made popular widespread would cause a crash in prices. I have one such plan, and it is inexpensive. I am taken care of if I get real sick, but I don’t go rushing to the emergency room for something a band-aid would take care of.
A single payer system just won’t drive the cost down. It will be spread around and put on people who don’t use the system. This kind of system exasperates the issue because people have the impression it is free. That is horrible for competition and the tax-paying consumer. In addition, as a government monopoly, freedom of choice would be limited. If I want to use alternative medicine, I would have to pay for that, as well as the tax for everybody else to use the government system. I want the freedom to choose, the freedom to participate or not participate. I want government out of my health.
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