Socialized Health Care in the USA

[Jester]

I noticed my favorite new socialist villain :), Paul Krugman, weighed in on his column today. He makes the case by lying with statistics, and citing one question in a CBS/NYT poll, "While 85 percent of respondents said the health care system needed to be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt, 77 percent said they were very or somewhat satisfied with the quality of their own care." He also failed to mention that the poll results revealed "considerable unease about the impact of heightened government involvement, on both the economy and the quality of the respondents’ own medical care."

I think Krugman's case is a fair interpretation of the poll. People know what they want, and they say so, but are also aware of the potential pitfalls (and choose a public or semi-public system anyway). I support public health care in both Canada and the UK, but that doesn't mean I'm not aware, and afraid of, the problems with that kind of system.

My position is probably draconian, but I believe we need to move towards a system where families pay out of their own pockets for either their care or their insurance.

That link is a fabulous example of lying by omitting statistics. Any country, no matter how rich, well-run, or humane, can summon up horror stories of how health care was bungled, or people suffered needlessly. The question is what the rates are. How frequently do deaths due to medical failure happen in Sweden, vs. any other country? What effect does this have on disease survival rates, life expectancy, and medical costs? Are those deaths representative, or exceptional? Without statistics, you can't tell these things. All you can do is trade anecdotes.

Keep the employers and the government out of manipulations of the health care industry. This way the consumer will again drive the market, and the again help to determine the price and products. Governments role should be limited to helping people who cannot afford to pay for basic coverage (with an allowance or tax deductions). The difficult (nigh impossible) part would be to transition from the mess we have now, to a system that is rationalized by supply and demand.

How can employers manipulate a free insurance market? Market power? Why would they pay more for the same insurance? That's money out of their pockets. If they buy insurance for their employees, and that is a negotiated part of the contract, how is that different from individuals buying insurance, from the perspective of the market setting prices?

-Jester