A more libertarian perspective on Health Care Reform

Many of us awoke the morning after the Obama Health Care Speech thinking many of the ideas he expressed were good ones. All of the protections that current health insurance holders deserve, plus a place for those without to compete for prices. What we didn’t have the morning after was any concrete examples of those principles in legislation or a way to pay for them. What we have instead are massive giveaways to leftist special interests and a major movement by social progressives away from what Americans are already happy with. Since two-thirds of those uninsured: make over $75,000; qualify but don’t bother to sign up; or are not citizens, one would think this gap would be relatively easy to close. But instead of fixing what ails health care, government intrusion, the left is trying to stampede more government into the chaos.

America has endured “managed care” of HMO’s and PPO’s for 35 years and its time to move on. The reason we have high costs is a consequence of government involvement. Anywhere you have government activity, as in education, you have soaring costs that can’t be managed. That’s because someone else is always paying the bill. When that happens, the incentive is to charge “the most”. If you have to choose between paying this doctor or that doctor, the incentive becomes to charge “the least”.

One thing I have heard that I would like to see and that is an end to pharmaceutical advertising. The only other First World country to allow that is New Zealand. Let’s end a drive for demand of pharmaceuticals by slick marketing gimmicks.

No bill before the House or Senate addresses costs, or how to pay for the additional care. Nothing in Congress also addresses the additional doctors that will be needed to treat and see these additional patients. The only way that will be handled, currently, is that it will be more difficult and take longer to make an appointment with your current doctor because he/she has more patients to service. In other words, rationing will begin.

America wants Health Care Reform. Citizens so far have been smart enough to read for themselves and realize that what Democrats in Congress are producing is not that. Not at all. We deserve better.


About Terry Crowley