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Health Bill Hacks Wildly at True Problem, Misses
While Senate is out to play for recess, the rest of the country waits on their brilliant solutions to surface in the fall. Obama wants health care reform that reduces costs, covers more Americans, and makes doctors accountable to their patients. Sounds like a great plan.
I only find one problem with it: there is no plan.
A few bipartisan congressional committees have been arguing over different ideas for the past few weeks. A couple of proposals have been knocked around, and it looks as though we are in store for some sort of public health insurance plan designed to compete with those evil private companies that drive up prices to exploit the American public. (My brutality is entirely sarcastic.)
Basic, Adam Smith-style, economics show us why a publicly provided insurance plan will not achieve these goals without dire sacrifices. However, taken out of context, it can also show …
Popularity: 2% [?]
An Essential Reform
On the world stage, U.S. health care is a topic of almost humorous discussion: an American attempt at free market ideals failed — miserably. As a citizen, it is merely depressing. In this immensely wealthy nation, 15% of the population goes without basic health coverage; private sector spending is enormous while government spending is disproportionately daunting. A brief Wikipedia skim will give you a sense of the problem.
The United States has established a fairly privatized health care system in contrast to many other industrialized countries. In the U.K., basic health care is free for all residents (NHS). In the U.S., coverage is only provided for to the elderly and the disabled with Medicare and Medicaid, respectively, while spending much more per capita than Britain spends in their public and private sectors combined. In fact, U.S. government health care spending is the highest in the world. Why …
Popularity: 1% [?]
