Posted on 09/19/2007 8:40:29 AM PDT by Fishface
Free is Not Always Better Todd A. Carges
Here she goes again. Hillary Clinton announced yesterday her plan for mandatory health insurance which is just a clever nickname for her version of Nationalized Healthcare. She tried in 1994 to convert us to socialized medicine and failed miserably. Luckily, clearer heads prevailed. But now it is 2007, and Nationalized Healthcare is back on the table. You’d think that the troubles they’re having in Canada and Europe where “free” healthcare has cost them billions in taxes and quality of care would provide all the proof we need to reject this bad idea. But then again, not many people know about the troubles Canada and Europe are having with their health care systems. So, here are just a few of the consequences of Nationalizing Healthcare.
First a quick definition: Nationalized Healthcare is when a government takes complete control of its’ Health Care industry through legislation and regulation. That definition alone should be enough to send shiver’s down your spine, but let’s continue.
“Free” Healthcare:
It is often said that Nationalized Healthcare is “free” healthcare. Of course, this isn’t true. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Like Europe and Canada, American Citizens will pay for this healthcare with much higher taxes. Politicians complain now that our government is short of money. Add billions for “free” healthcare and you can see why the tax rates in Europe and Canada dwarf ours. In fact, taxes in America consume approximately 29% of economic output; while taxes in Europe consume approximately 42% of theirs.
A Monopoly:
Through regulation and legislation, the government creates a healthcare monopoly where industry players are forced to conform. As with all monopolies, competition is eliminated. Without competition, the uniformity and lack of entrepreneurship adds to costs. As with all bureaucracies, change slows to a snail’s pace and an otherwise dynamic industry stagnates. There is no incentive to develop new technologies or adapt to changing demands because there is little opportunity for financial reward.
Supply and Demand:
Because healthcare will seemingly be “free”, we will fast have a supply and demand problem. When there is no cost to a commodity, it is over consumed and a shortage develops. Only this shortage won’t be for Cabbage Patch Kids, it will be for your healthcare. This means long lines at your doctor’s office and hospital emergency rooms. Think about it, if you’re sick and call your doctor and are told that you have to wait 6 months for an appointment, you are going to go to the emergency room. Well, the emergency room is filled with people waiting, sometimes for days. It only gets worse if you need surgery. In Canada, heart surgeons report that their patients are dying on their waiting lists.
Keeping Costs Low:
As Demand rises so do costs. The government then has to raise taxes to pay for rising costs. They can’t do this forever though. The tax burden soon reaches its breaking point, and the government is forced by any means necessary to hold down costs. How do they do this? Well, it starts with the equipment. They stop buying M.R.I. machines, Ultrasound machines, hospital beds and other expensive cutting edge technology that we rely on for our advanced healthcare. With fewer machines, technology and hospital beds comes longer lines and more waiting. But it gets even scarier, the most expensive component of healthcare is labor.
Capping:
Doctors, nurses and other vital healthcare technicians come under tight government controls. Their salaries and fees are negotiated. This leads to frequent work stoppages from nurses, ambulance drivers, doctors, dispatchers and anyone else on the government payroll. Ceilings are placed on doctor’s income. For instance in Quebec, any fees earned by a general practitioner in excess of $164,108 a year are only reimbursed at a rate of 25%. This has had a negative impact on work incentives as doctors choose not to work as much after they have hit $164,108. Once again, less doctors means longer lines. It also affects the quality of the doctor. If the best and brightest can make more money working in another profession and not be subjected to such smothering regulation and limited technology, they’re smart enough to do it. Top doctors and nurses in Canada have come to America so that they can work with cutting edge technology and make as much money as their talent earns them. If we had Nationalized Healthcare here in America, doctors wouldn’t go to another country; they would go into another profession.
The Myth of Equality:
There is a belief that Nationalized Healthcare levels the playing field between the haves and have nots. This is not true. While some groups benefit, others suffer. We’ve established the fact that long waiting lines and lists plague the system. It is the employed that can’t afford to take time out of work to wait for appointments or routine treatments that suffer the most. If they absolutely have to take time out of work, the cost of waiting impacts them much more than the unemployed or wealthy. Another problem is that those connected somehow to a doctor or hospital director or someone who knows them don’t have to have to wait three days in the emergency room before their sick child gets seen. They, pick up the phone, make a call and cheat the system. This pushes everybody in the line back.
The Bureaucracy:
Add to all of this the fact that our government will be managing this monstrosity. This means layers of management, misallocations of resources, slow decision making, unrealistic budgets, overspending, corruption and everything else that we’ve come to expect from big government management.
Conclusion:
The end result is that Nationalized Healthcare provides a poor quality of service. The healthcare providers already have more patients than they can handle and no incentive to provide better care. Nationalized Healthcare is a flawed concept that should not be considered in a successful free market economy. I could spend an entire column explaining the true reasons politicians push for socialized medicine, but I’ll save that for another day. In the meantime, I hope I’ve provided some insight into the problems that other countries are having since they’ve nationalized their healthcare. Remember, “Free” isn’t always better.
Nothing is free. When the goverment says something is going to be free you had better hold on to your wallet. I guess that I am not going to be able to live long enough to be rid of the Clintons.
This isn’t about providing “Free” healthcare, it’s about setting up a situation that gets Hillary Elected.
If a republican DARES to speak out against HitlerCare, MoveOn and the other Dem Machine Organs will immediately attack them with the tried and true “Child-KILLER!!”, bs...
Remember, we are dealing with the same crew that claimed Republicans wanted to force the Elderly to eat Dog Food.
It’s about setting up the PROPOGANDA, and arranging the Hyperbole...
It will be free when all the doctors, nurses, lawyers, contractors, power companies, vendors - etc don’t charge for it.
That won’t happen.
high quality, high availability, low price -
Pick two
Pick two
On the contrary, a free market health care system will provide all three...a federal government buraeucracy-run HilterCare-type system will provide none of the three
But, you're spot on with gov't care. It never ceases to amaze me that people any political bent rarely trust politicians any farther than they can throw them....but, don't hesitate to trust pols with their health and the health of their families.
And, I’d add that I think under socialized medicine....people that would have been world-class heart surgeons will choose a different profession to be world-class in, rather than deal with stifling governmental oversight.
Hello Hillary (one of Bubba’s side dishes)...........
Liberal MP Belinda Stronach, who is battling breast cancer, travelled to California last June for an operation that was recommended as part of her treatment, says a report.
I am really getting tired of these libs lying about ‘free healthcare’. I am a european citizen living here in the US; before that I was able to receive ‘free socialized healthcare’. However, there was a slight problem with the word ‘free’; they only took 37% cuts from my paycheck to pay for this ‘free care’.
I also did not make $250,00 a year, but rather in the lower income, say about $37,000; now they only took about $ 13,800 from my check per year. This is just laughable, and I hope americans are not that gullable.
Anti-Hillary Clinton BUMP!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.