To illustrate how many ideas simply refuse to die in politics until they get shoved through, we have once again witnessed the rise of universal health insurance in Amerika (yes, the our hallowed country's name was misspelled on purpose). We have seen Mike (I live in Manhattan) Moore unveil his movie Sicko, the story of Kathleen Aldrich going bankrupt to stay alive, pushing for expanded kiddy care in Texas, and now the Houston Chronicle chimes in saying that we should have universal health insurance. However Houston's own GHP Pravda bravely refuses to describe in that editorial how it is that Amerika is supposed to reach universal health insurance nirvana. All of this on top of Harry Truman's failed 1949 plan, Richard Nixon's universal employer based mandate, and Billary's 1993 failed plan.
I am going to make an assumption that many who bother to read this blog entry are reasonably aware of the many arguments for and against universal health insurance, the various ways in which a society can attain such a nirvana, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of America's vast patchwork of providing for health care (such as its heavy component of cross subsidization involved). If you want to read of some interesting stories regarding health care and its provision, here is a practicing M.D. who keeps a blog. You might be interested in reading the NHS Blog doctor. Try reading this and try watching the film The Barbarian Invasions on the joys of health care in Canada.
Several years ago, I was out of the country on vacation when I met an Englishman who climbed all over me because the United States did not have universal health insurance. He told me that people had a right to their health. I said okay, and... He replied that since people had a right to their health, then they had a right to health care when things went bad. That is when I told him to hold the horses. I told him that nobody has a right to health care anymore than they had a right to a house, an apartment, food, or anything else. You do have a right to seek help if things are wrong, but the providers may well turn you down in one way or another. You may well not get what you want. Indeed this happens quite often in the 41 countries which have some form of universal health insurance.
One thing I will say about the policy debates is this. A frequently advanced argument for socialized medicine is that everyone will get equal access to health care. Nothing could be further from the truth. When I was in the UK earlier this year, I read in one of the newspapers of a study which noted that wait times in the UK were shorter and hospitals were better funded if you happened to live in an area that was represented by a member of the Labour Party than if you happened to live in a constituency represented by the Conservative Party or by a Liberal Democrat. Do remember that Labour has been in power since 1997. When the study came out, the Tony Blair directed spin machine predictably went into action, declaring that people in their districts needed the greater spending for various reasons, but this rationalizing when you've been caught plundering more than your share of the public purse is to be expected with any government program.
Now that is not an attack against the Labour Party per se, as I would automatically assume that the Conservatives would do exactly the same thing were they to seize power in the next UK general elections. The Economist noted some years ago that when the Republicans were in control of the Congress, it seemed that the main difference between the time when the Republicans were in control and when the Democrats were in control was where the taxpayer monies went to. Taxpayer largesse does flow more in the direction of the party which controls the houses of the legislature, irrespective of what the government funded program happens to be.
As an aside, I work for a Big Evil Company. My UK counterparts have access to a private health insurance plan, which they take advantage of in droves. Recently, one of my colleagues suffered a heart attack while doing desktop work in Libya. Fortunately he survived. The BEOC sent him to London when he was strong enough to travel and they put him into a rather nice private hospital. Note that the BEOC did not put him at the whims of the NHS.
More to the point, I have this to say about universal health insurance. If there is to be a substantial government component to such a regime, then I want the Paul Krugman's, the Houston Chronicle Editorial Board, the Michael Moore's and all the rest of you to tell me something. It is pretty clear to me that under any such regime that I am going to have to wait to get health care when I need it. Like most men, I am the type that will not bother to see a doctor until I absolutely have to. Compare this to a (female) high school science teacher I had. This lady had a five year old girl who was just oh so dear to her. This lady must have taken 15 days off during the school year to run off to take care of her daughter (she was a single mother at the time, but I think may have remarried). If I remember correctly, most of these sick days taken off for her daughter turned out to be for minor ailments and eventually the school district docked her of pay, which really threw her into a funk. She then naturally complained to the teacher's union but those were the rules which had been worked out between the district and the union.
My point here is this. I do not under any circumstances want to wait when I need treatment - End of story!!! I know myself better. As I have gotten older, I have become the type of person that can often be very patient, but if something is important enough, then when I really want something now then I want it right now and that goes for health care. If anyone is going to shove some universal health insurance plan down my throat, then they really had better come up with a component that will allow someone such as myself to pay for convenience, get treatment on my time, and not have to wait in line the way that the hoi polloi does down at the county hospitals.
But you know, I've decided that is not enough. I have a hard time imagining that any new proposals will not end up raising my taxes in some way. Moreover, any new health care regime is pretty much going to take away more of my freedom. What I want to hear from the Michael Moore's, Paul Krguman's, Houston Chronicle Editorial Board, and all the rest of you who advocate some universal health insurance regime, is this: What else are you going to do for me? Don't answer that we are guaranteeing health insurance because I already have that. In fact I might end up with something inferior afterwards where I am going to have to wait for treatment. Moreover, I am worried about choking off the revolution that pharmaceutical drugs is bringing us. What I never hear from the advocates of universal health insurance is what are you going to do for me in return? How much of my freedom are you going to give me back?
Well in case you universal health insurance advocates are clueless, I have an idea. I am probably going to get hammered by Social Security to the tune of north of $500,000 irrespective of what happens. Ergo, what I propose is this. Either shut down the Social Security plan, or as a lesser option I will renounce any and all claims to Social Security benefits if or when I become eligible for them in return for being allowed to opt out of the program right now and to quit paying taxes. I figure I can cut my losses now and save several hundred thousand dollars in the process by doing this. In return, I just might consider supporting a universal health insurance regime which allows me to pay for convenience and to buy my way out of waiting for treatment. Now how's that for a deal?
Now I can just hear the chorus: We just can't shut down Social Security and we aren't going to allow you to get out of the program anyway! Don't you know millions depend on those checks and we just can't allow people like you to opt out because we are all in this together and if one rat jumps ship then all the rats will too!
Well if that's your Road to Serfdom type answer, then all I can say is that you can go kiss my ******* ass.
Wizard
Posted by The Mighty Wizard at August 18, 2007 07:11 PM