The health care debate in the United States has deteriorated into utter madness. Our leaders are pandering for votes, too many of our citizens are looking for the scapegoat and the easy way out, and the media is too lazy or ignorant to actually raise the debate to an intelligent level. The question put forth by all candidates for public office, registered voters, and the members of the media who carry the message should be “do Americans want to be aggressive consumers in the market place or complacent wards of the state?”
There is not a candidate out there, a poll of the citizenry, or a media headline that is even making an attempt to educate Americans to a few of the numerous problems in U.S. health care that are driving up costs. Instead we bash pharmacy companies, envy “rich” doctors, and shirk our responsibility to pay out of our own pocket for goods and services we use. What is brought up, again and again, in this debate is the unquestioned power of the state, and those who run it, to somehow make matters better at no costs to “hard-working-middle-class Americans” and put the burden of paying for their brilliant solutions on life’s winners – citizens that are rich. What is lost in this debate is who gets to define rich? There is only one candidate that is actually bold enough to claim they have the “wisdom” to determine who is rich in America – Hillary Clinton. Those rich citizens are people who make $200k a year or more. I won’t go into how this is blatant class warfare and how $200k means different things to people living in different parts of America with varying family situations. I don’t see, however, anyone else in the media or GOP side arguing this point.
The fact of the matter is that when we, the consumer, are taken out of the free market equation the results are disastrous. I challenge anyone to point to a single case in history where government control over a good or service resulted in an increase of supply and a decrease in costs. The examples of the opposite are staggering and it is maddening how no candidate, or media outlet is educating the voters to this fact. One only needs to look at the former Soviet Union, the sudden abundance of goods and services in parts of the economy of China that are moving toward free markets, and the increase of inflation and scarcity of supply in Venezuela where its leaders aggressively pursue socialism, for examples of markets and government control.
The number one example for rising health care costs is the citation of the “millions” of uninsured Americans. Are not people in a free society supposed to be free to choose if they want to buy or not buy a good or service? And the last time I checked insurance was a form of gambling, although legal. The insurance company is gambling that the consumer of their product will not need their services. The consumer is betting that they will use those services and that will justify the high cost of the insurance product. Where in this debate are the percentages cited of uninsured who are young adults, children, elderly, self-employed, etc.? Nowhere that I can tell. Yes, research can be done to discover these numbers, but numbers don’t motivate the candidates, media, or voting public – emotions, however, do. What is disgusting to me is how many people complain about the 20% of health care costs they do have to pay. Since when is medicine and doctor services a God given right? Pharmacy companies take financial risk into research for the development of medicines and technologies. Doctors spend thousands upon thousands for college and training and once they are working in the market place they must spend thousands more for insurance to protect against potential lawsuits. Yet, we are entitled to those goods and services without payment? How is this morally acceptable?
Lost in this debate is the “forgotten man”, to use a phrase used by the President that introduced Americans to socialism – F.D.R. The consumer has been totally lost in this debate and in the spiraling cost of health care. Do we actually get to determine how much we pay for insurance, medicines, or medical services? The answer is no. We sign up for health insurance through our employer without shopping around to verify if it is cheaper elsewhere. Insurance companies, hospitals, doctors, and pharmacy companies actually negotiate and determine the cost of those goods and services. This model plays right into the arguments for proponents of socialized medicine. They get to bash all of these players and play upon our emotions. I, however, would much prefer the current model instead of the socialist solution. I would rather corruption be in the hands of privately held corporations that will eventually go out of business, i.e. Enron, than transfer that corruption to our elected leaders and the state. The state never goes out of business and we don’t get to sue the state for damages, etc. One only needs to look at our current batch of Congressional leaders to find examples of corrupt politicians that seem to get voted back into office year after year. I would rather give my money to corrupt corporations only when I use their services than to be forced to give my money to corrupt politicians on a monthly basis in the form of taxes. This is, of course, assuming that every single employee, CEO, and shareholder of companies in the health industry are as corrupt as politicians and media would have us believe. At least if I don’t go to the doctor and do not owe them anything, I won’t go to jail. If I am not sick, however, and do not pay my taxes I will suffer the wrath of the state. So proponents of socialized medicine conveniently leave out the dangerous effects of the state upon our daily lives yet constantly remind us of the effects of health care on our lives when we need it. So we, the consumer, have been forgotten in this debate. The only consumers involved in the debate are the supposed rich that somehow have a never-ending flow of money that will miraculously pay for all of our problems in the form of taxes. Once it is proven taxing life’s winners won’t cover the costs of making our lives better, we get to be taxed more as well. All the time, remember that the state and not the market place determine who is rich and who is not.
Lastly, how is insuring everyone in America going to drive down health care costs? It would seem that an uninsured patient actually costs the health care system less. Bill the patient, patient pays, and that is it – no costs of paperwork, haggling with insurance companies, etc. Insuring everyone in America does not automatically guarantee that the patient will pay for his or her portion. Once the state insures everyone, who is going to pay for the portion of the costs that a ward of the state cannot cover? The problem isn’t solved through forced enrollment. But it sure seems to allow us to beat up on the scapegoats – the rich, pharmacy companies, doctors, and hospitals.
Proponents of socialized medicine know that forced enrollment into a government policy is not going to drive down costs and increase access to services. It will contribute to scarcity of goods and services and increased costs. This will lead to their ultimate goal of total government control over health care in America once insuring everyone has failed. Surely the government is the last bastion of hope and problem solving? This means the state determines how much doctors and health care workers get paid. The state determines how much a pharmacy company should be compensated for the risks it has taken in research and development of new technologies and medicines. The state determines if and when we, the taxpayer, receive medical services. And ultimately, the state determines how much money is coerced from our paychecks to cover the costs.
Yes, our health care system is broken. No, I do not want to become a ward of the state. Yes, I want the government and people supposedly smarter than me to get out of the business of health care. So Democrat candidates for office get your nose out of my business and let me make my own decisions. GOP candidates for office need to educate people on the real power of the market place and the dangers of state control. The media needs to get off their lazy bottoms and actually research and educate instead of towing some political agenda. Lastly, we the citizens need to quit acting like helpless wards entitled to health care and understand that it is morally correct to actually pay with our own money for any kind of good or service we use or desire.
Mr. Rep J
