When the president of the United States tells us that we “can’t fix the economy without fixing health care,” what do you make of it?
If you’re like me, you want to unravel the health care mess. And making it better would surely help the economy. But do I agree with President Obama?
Well, no.
The president and his party want to increase government controls and establish new government programs, the usual whatnot.
That is, the usual stuff that is precisely “what not to do.”
Instead of increasing costs by regulation, we should decrease costs by having the government stop mandating what health insurance companies must provide. Or unentangle our hyper-expensive Food and Drug Administration, with its longest and most expensive research rules in the world.
Generally, our politicians want us to emulate various socialized systems from across the globe, while ignoring the aspects of those systems that are freer than ours.
Specifically, Obama wants to set up a tax-funded Medicare system for everybody, in competition with regulated private insurance companies. And since Medicare is one of the main drivers of high prices, you can see where this will lead.
Funny thing is, our medical costs have not been shooting up these past few years as much as they were before, while in heavily regulated-and-rationed Britain, costs have skyrocketed during this same period.
I’m reminded of the Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.