I have blogged on the failures of Michael Moore's logic with regard to socialized medicine in the past, however due to nearly every Democrat jumping on the bandwagon of socialized, anti-free market plans for health care which will leave Americans worse off, the issue needs further coverage.
A main problem with socialized medicine is the issue of scarcity. When something has no direct cost to consume (not free, a spin the left wishes you'd buy), it leads to overconsumption. It decrases incentives to produce superior care, because after all, people can't pay more for better service. It also leads to massive shortages. This may seem like a benign issue, but as many people in places with socialized medicine know, its deadly.
Moore paints a utopian image of socialized health care that is painfully detached from reality. Nonetheless, the Democrats are jumping on the bandwagon of socialized medicine despite the fact that government simply cannot fund these programs. Edwards recently unveiled his plans to hose Americans with new taxes at the same time that countries around the world are lowering taxes. The simple fact is, socialized medicine is a system that not only cannot work, but is fiscally infeasible.
The health system we have currently is broken, but not because it is private; rather, because of the backwards regulatory and tax system we have that distorts incentives and feeds bureaucracies. The way to solve the health care crisis is by changing the tax code to stop employer health insurance and push toward health savings accounts. Insurance is a terrible way to pay for anything as it destroys incentives for consumers to respond to price. Getting one's health coverage through an employer has shortfalls because it leaves the unemployed at a severe disadvantage. The solution is health savings accounts and free market solutions that are self-sustaining.
2 comments:
I hope you never get suddenly sick in your system Matt. Or I hope that you make enought money off of those who do that you don't have to worry. Good luck; however, that's certainly no health care system I want to support. You and yours are heartless.
What is heartless is the scam of promising "free" services to all which leads to inefficiency and waste. What is heartless is people sick and dying waiting for care due to shortages. What is heartless is the destruction of the profit motive fueling innovation in health care, whose hidden costs are massive. What is heartless is holding our economy, the means by which to fund health care, back by placing massive taxes on businesses and individuals.
In a free market system, individuals are not dependent on their employers for their health care, where unemployment eliminates not only the cash flow to pay but the insurance to cover. In a free market system, individuals are not reliant on insurance policies to pay for every medical expense, but instead can use health savings accounts to fund most expenses, creating efficiency in the system through greater price discrepancy fueling competition amongst care providers.
By allowing individuals to have greater control over their health care, instead of less, decisions will be made by individuals and doctors, instead of HMOs or government bureaucrats. I certainly wouldn't want to be sick in a system where I had to rely on others to both determine my available care and fund it.
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