If you think health care in America is bad now, wait till it’s free. (I don’t recall who said that, but it’s a great line!)
Many Americans don’t want to pay for health insurance or medical bills. Thanks to politicians and other demagogues, they believe every American is entitled to the services of medical providers with no price tag attached. That’s like saying we’re all entitled to the services of roofers. It’s simply ludicrous!
For a glimpse of what Obamacare will be like, read John Stossel’s latest column. Free health coverage is fantastic, until you get sick. Canadians come to the US when they’re denied treatment. After we model our health system after Canada where will we go when we’re denied treatment? Oh yeah – to the grave.
What makes anyone think the US government is so special that they can do better than the Canadians, or the British? Those nations have years of practice and they haven’t found a way to bring costs under control without rationing care. Oh, sure, they save a few bucks by not washing hospital sheets. Here in America we can all keep an extra bag packed with clean underwear, a toothbrush and sheets! That should help keep costs down. Then they won’t even have to pay hospital staff turn turn the sheets over.
George Newman’s column in the Wall Street Journal is another must read if you’re looking for arguments against Obamacare. Newman likens the complaint about the rising costs of health care to comparing ground beef to filet mignon. What a great point! In the 1950′s there was nowhere near the level of care we receive today. New drugs and techonology are expensive. The MRI didn’t invent itself. The advances made in orthopedic and neurosurgery in the past two decades is simply amazing. But those advances don’t come cheap. The improvements in medical technology in the past century surely exceed the wildest dreams of anyone alive one hundred years ago.
If you still aren’t convinced government health care is a bad idea, I leave you with this quote from Mr. Newman:
- “We need a public plan to keep the private plans honest.”
The 1,500 or so private plans don’t produce enough competition? Making it 1,501 will do the trick? But then why stop there? Eating is even more important than health care, so shouldn’t we have government-run supermarkets “to keep the private ones honest”? After all, supermarkets clearly put profits ahead of feeding people. And we can’t run around naked, so we should have government-run clothing stores to keep the private ones honest. And shelter is just as important, so we should start public housing to keep private builders honest. Oops, we already have that. And that is exactly the point. Think of everything you know about public housing, the image the term conjures up in your mind. If you like public housing you will love public health care.
Here’s the thing – politicians don’t care about you. They only want power, the only way to get that power is to get enough people to vote for them. When politicians start making promises for “free” stuff, you should be very leery.
Update: It was PJ O’Rourk. Thanks to Matt K Lewis on Twitter!
 | mattklewis Matt Lewis | Alexandria, VA, USA RT: @xpertgregIf you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free! -P.J. O’Rourk about 7 hours ago |
