|
In response to reports of mismanagement
and exorbitant patient billing at a Louisiana hospital the local newspaper
called for the establishment of socialized healthcare for all Americans.
The editor declared, "Health care cannot function properly if profit
is the bottom line." The editorial continued by calling for a "National
Health Care System." While the editor admitted that they had no medical
experts at the paper they none-the-less were quick to embrace a failed
system of socialized healthcare that resulted in the nations of Eastern
Europe having third world infant mortality rates. Perhaps in addition
to admitting to not having medical experts at the paper the editors should
have noted a lack of free market economic experts as well!
The central theme of the editorial in question
was that certain cases of extreme bad accounting are occurring in some
healthcare institutions and the resulting mismanagement is causing healthcare
to become unaffordable for many people. In an example of "throwing
the baby out with the bath water" the editor suggested that perhaps
we should abandon the free enterprise system that is responsible for the
greatest advances in health technology and science the world has seen
and replace it with a government system based upon the ability of government
to force once free individuals to comply with Federal health "insurance"
mandates. There is no doubt that there are problems with America's current
healthcare system but first we should understand what went wrong-how did
the most advanced health care system in the world become economically
challenged-is the problem too much free market or too much government?
Liberals and other socialists have established
their political careers by turning the word "profit" into a
pejorative. What they do not tell us is that without profits there would
have never been any of the modern miracles of technology that we all take
for granted. The reason that socialism failed in Europe (both National
Socialism and Marxist socialism) is that it had no way to measure cost
and therefore cannot determine profit. Without profit there is no way
to rationally determine where to best allocate limited resources. Whether
it is the socialism of Central Europe, socialism of the British Healthcare
system or the socialism of Louisiana's Medicaid system-they all are doomed
to ultimate failure. No doubt, as in the former Soviet Union, the state
can for a while use force or threats of force to sustain its socialist
system but in the end it is doomed to failure. But if socialism is not
the answer then what is?
Today there is no true free market as it relates
to healthcare. Government interference began during World War II when
it established wage controls on "war" industry. To attract and
retain a skilled work force these industries had to find ways to get around
these government controls. Thus was born third party health insurance
on a large scale in America. In the free market the consumer is sovereign
but in a system of third party payers the consumer is no longer the one
paying and therefore concern about price drops while demand for services
increases. The insidious economic impact is slowly compounded generation
over generation until all of a sudden we now have a "crises."
And of course to resolve the crises that was originally initiated by government
intervention in the free market we have legions of liberals and other
socialists who are quick to offer more government interventions to resolve
the very problem that government interventions is causing.
Liberals and socialists are quick to point to
the rising costs of healthcare but they are reluctant to explain the other
side of the equation-affordability. Why is it necessary in many cases
for both parents to work just to "make ends meet?" Wage earners
are making more take home pay but it just does not seem to go as far as
it should. No one in our current liberal/socialist political order dare
ask-why? Americans today carry a direct tax burden that would have caused
our Founding Fathers to initiate a revolution-come to think of it they
did! A conservative estimate is that around 30 to 40 percent of our wages
are subjected to some form of direct taxation. If that is not bad enough
another 10 to 20 percent can be added on for indirect taxation; inflation,
unfunded mandates, higher prices due to businesses complying with government
regulations etc. The major unspoken reason American workers can not afford
healthcare is that government is confiscating too much of the worker's
income via direct and indirect taxation!
No, Mr. Editor, the problem is not a failure
of the free market-the fact that the free market can maintain itself under
such heavy weight of taxation and government interventions is proof of
its dynamic potential. The problem is too much government-yes no doubt
many laws, rules, court edicts, were passed by well meaning people who
wanted to "do good" but the positive results of their good intentions
are never realized-and who pays-we the people pay. But be assured that
those with close connections with government, favored special interest
groups, big bankers, and large corporations will always have government
to protect them-tax payers and consumers have no such guarantees. The
editor was correct in questioning the alleged mismanagement of one particular
healthcare institution, he/she was correct in pointing out the tragedy
of sick people who cannot afford healthcare, but blaming healthcare providers
and suggesting that we abandon the free market in favor of a failed system
of socialism is absolutely incorrect.
James Ronald Kennedy
www.kennedytwins.com
|