Re: {OT:} "Worldview: Lessons can be learned from European health systems"
- From: "larry moe 'n curly" <larrymoencurly@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 00:04:56 -0800 (PST)
Tegger wrote:
"JoeSpareBedroom" <newstrash@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:XN%in.429$_v6.387@xxxxxxxxxxxx:
OK. Tomorrow, you're the king of America.
For one year, you have no
legislature to meddle with your decisions. Give me your list of ideas
to fix health care in this country. If you say it doesn't need fixing,
please promise me that you'll shut off your computer and kill yourself
immediately.
Your list here, please:
My list consists of one thing, and one thing only:
I would prohibit any government, or any government agency, or any entity
with any connection of any kind with any government, from having anything
to do with health care, in any way imaginable.
With one exception.
That exception is, that any government in effect in the jurisdictions in
question shall respect and enforce, without question or modification, any
private contract entered into by two consenting parties, so long as fraud
or coercion is not present. And my definitions of coercion and fraud are
very narrow indeed.
This is all you'd need to do. After that, the other problems (primarily
those of cost and supply) would solve themselves.
You'd have a good point if:
1. health care wasn't often such a serious matter
2. libertarian ideas worked as well as Alan Greenspan used to think
they did
3. the evidence showed better results for the least-regulated health
care systems
4. freedom always matter more than life
I don't mean these points sarcastically, and if #4 is the most
important, then your system is the only logical and moral one. But
evidence from several nations indicates that the best health care
system may not be the least regulated one, as indicated by this graph
comparing annual health care costs in 2007 to average life expectancy:
www.queuefull.net/~bensons/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/NG-Cost-of-Healthcare-Dec2009.jpg
Basically it shows years of life expectancy per dollar spent on health
care. Notice that free market Mexico is cheapest, at $823 a year,
while the US, at $7,290, is the most expensive, by far, yet isn't the
most socialistic system but the US (about 50% government-funded), and
we don't have the highest life expectancy. Switzerland, despite
being a third cheaper, is the second most expensive system and is
private but highly regulated by government. Apparently a major reason
Americans die earlier is because so many poor people don't get good
health care, and emergency rooms are poor substitutes for regular
visits to the same doctor.
A libertarian health care system also may not reduce costs because
look at what's happened with dental insurance and health care for
pets, especially the latter, and unlike care for humans, it's not very
important.
.
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