This From the Washington Post? Wow!
Posted by Meg | Posted in Big Issues, Health-Care, Misleading, Must See, Obama, Socialism, Socialized Medicine | Posted on 29-06-2009
Tags: capitalism, health care, Obama, Obamacare, op-ed, socialized medicine, universal healthcare, Washington Post
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Finally! Someone has finally had the nerve to point out that the reason we’re no longer paying 1960s-era prices for healthcare is in part due to the fact that the highest cost expenditures for hospitals have long since evolved from being ‘clean linens’, as was the case in 1960. I’ve been screaming this at the TV every time I see a politician waxing sentimental about healthcare costs of yesteryear. Yeah, well, I’d love to see how they’d like to settle for the healthcare benefits of the 1960s as they’re battling a serious infection, treatable cancers, or some other previously incurable disease. Not that I’m wishing ill on anyone, but seriously, so many diseases that we can easily cure today weren’t even named by the 1960s! Let’s remember, all was not so cheery back then, as yes, we were paying far less, but receiving far less care. As quality goes up, as services go up, so must prices.
Another large part I’ve been dying to see someone mention? Gee, government involvement which certainly keeps the healthcare market in this country from truly being ‘free’ and ‘capitalistic’, which would keep prices more in line with what the market expects to pay for them. Any time a politician says our healthcare market is currently free, or that Obama’s plan would only provide for an infusion of capitalistic competition into our healthcare market, I can’t help but laugh as I’m gagging on their dishonesty.
And who finally had the nerve to say all these things? Shock of shocks, the Washington Post. This is one of the signs of the apocalypse, isn’t it? 
You really have to read this recent op-ed from George F. Will, it’s a spectacular piece of honesty.
Healthcare is complicated these days, as more and more services are provided by hospitals and we expect bigger, better, more miraculous care. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with those expectations, so long as we aren’t expecting miraculous 21st century care with a 1960s-vintage price tag. Let’s stop looking backward, shall we? We must stop looking backward at the prices of yesteryear, and we absolutely must stop looking backward at outdated models of government-run healthcare that have already proven to be spectacular failures in every single nation that has dared try such experiments. Why look backward when we expect our healthcare to look forward? I can guarantee you that no American will tolerate the long waits and routinely denied care of socialized medicine. Let’s try something different for a change; let’s try something that has a proven track record in every market to which it has been applied, yet hasn’t been truly and completely applied to healthcare: truly free capitalism.
Exactly. Politicians always talk about “expenditures” on health care, as if we are paying more for the same quality. It also assumes the same population size and the same preference for health care.
We have many new diagnostic tests, medical procedures, and drugs which are miraculous by the standards of 25 years ago.
The most common fallacious argument used by the socialized medicine crowd is to do comparisons of life expectancy. Life expectancy is a function of how we live our lives (diet, exercise, smoking, alcohol, etc) and genetic factors. These are completely unrelated to our medical care system.
Survival rates are the best measure of health care delivery and quality. The USA has the highest cancer survival rate in the world. Statistics for other diseases and injuries are difficult (if not impossible) to find, but I’ll wager that our drugs and procedures extend the lives of millions of Americans who would have otherwise died 25 years ago or today in some other country.
We have an aging population, and that population is demanding more health care. This drives up the prices for all of us. People are also becoming more health-conscious with the internet and other resources of information. People actually go to the doctor for symptoms they used to ignore (and die of) 25 years ago.
Our new diagnostic equipment enables us to find problems earlier and more often. I was diagnosed with and treated for cancer at the age of 40 – that’s ten years sooner than socialized medicine nations would even begin routine tests. For cancer, ten years is an eternity when it comes to treatment.
Health care is provided with scarce resources. As such, those resources must be rationed. We can ration them by price, as with a market system, and have efficient allocation of resources with checks and balances through competition. Or we can go the socialist route and ration health care by waiting in line, not offering certain types of care, not having certain drugs or equipment, ignoring and covering up the problem, using phony holistic/traditional methods like mineral baths, or putting your life in the hands of government bureaucrats who really don’t care if you live or die.