First, what do I think? You get your chance below.
Okay, let’s just get it out into the open. Many of my friends think the government is the solution. They want universal healthcare. They say it works in Canada. They say it works in Britain. They say it works in this country or that country.
Yet, when I talk to people from those countries, they aren’t happy about their healthcare either.
So, is government really the answer. It seems to me the government has been tinkering with healthcare since before I was born. And the problems keep getting worse and worse, not better and better.
Democrats do this. And so too do republicans. Look at Mitt Romney in Massachusettes. Look at Trump, who wanted to replace Obamacare with Trumpcare. It’s all government controlled, just different strategies for controlling. And, quite frankly, as an asthmatic I have seen inhaler prices spike faster than a speeding bullet. And this is way more than the rate of inflation.
And where has government control of healthcare gotten us? It’s made it almost impossible for insurance companies to stay in business. The only insurance companies still around are the ones who can afford the most expensive lobbyists. They lobby for things like Obamacare, which in turn make it even harder for their competitors to stay in business. And so their competitors go out of business, and they end up with large insurance monopolies.
Ditto for large hospital groups. They have been eating up smaller hospitals that have been regulated out of business. Government has created so many regulations that these smaller hospitals can no longer afford keep their doors open without signing merger agreements with these larger hospital groups. Just go to the ER for asthma and you will see first hand this has in no way resulted in lower healthcare prices. I recently paid more than $700 for an ER doctor to prescribe me prednisone
Ditto for pharmaceuticals. Now we often refer to them as “Big Pharma” and we often blame them for the expensive asthma medicines. We say they are greedy. But, let’s be honest here, if I was the CEO of a “Big Pharma company, and I had the power to get rid of my competition simply by lobbying congress, I would do it in a heartbeat. It’s just smart business.
So, it’s not Big Pharma, and it’s not big insurance, and it’s not big hospitals, that are responsible for this crisis. And, yes, it is a crisis. When asthmatics can no longer afford the medicines they once paid for out of pocket, it’s a crisis. And sorry, I don’t think it’s the fault of these companies. Now, they are definitely not innocent here. But, the main fault can be put on the feet of Congress.
It just seems like every time there’s a problem someone in Congress sees it as an opportunity. They say things like, “Ah, you have a problem. What can we do to help? What can we do to buy your vote. And of course they buy it with other people’s money. Ah, let’s create another bill. Let’s create another regulation. Let’s create more government.”
They say it will work. They convince us it will. And the end result is it never does. And they they attempt to solve it with even more government. And it still doesn’t work. And yet we keep supporting for and voting for this nonsense.
What I propose is the exact opposite.
I do not know anyone, republican or democrat, who is happy with the current healthcare system. And the current approach to healthcare is government involvement. And obviously it is not working. So why not do the opposite.
Why not try capitalism?
It’s the only option that has never been tried with healthcare. Many of my friends say it won’t work. But how do they know when it’s never been tried.
What happens when half the people get free or discounted healthcare? The answer is everyone who pays has to pay more to make up for those who don’t pay. And if everyone has free healthcare, then people who work will still have to pay for it anyway through higher taxes. So, either way people like me are going to pay for your free healthcare. And let’s be honest here, people like me are barely getting by as it is.
As noted above, big pharma became big pharma because their competition went under. And the less competition the higher the prices. It’s simple economics 101. And this is what has happened with healthcare. The price of healthcare has risen higher than people can afford. It has risen faster than what a capitalistic market would allow.
For example, a store that charged $100 for a gallon of milk would go out of business in a capitalistic system. The businesses that stay are those that have a great product or service at the best price. And the more competition you have the better the product or service and the lower the price.
Another problem with healthcare right now is there’s little incentive for smart people with great ideas to jump into the healthcare arena. So this limits creativity and it limits options. So, there could be someone out there with a better product, a better medicine, maybe even a cure for asthma. But we won’t see it because our current system blocks that person from entering the arena.
And that’s why capitalism is so great. People have the potential to make profits by creating products or services that we want or need. They can make a profit off making our lives better. Their success is determined by how well they meet our needs. That’s capitalism.
So, my solution to the healthcare crisis is to get the government out of it.
Give capitalism a try.
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