Home > posts > Government-Run = Trouble Free?
August 25th, 2009 3:21 pm
Government-Run = Trouble Free?
Posted by Print

Many Obamacare proponents paint a government-run or single-payer system as some Utopian endgame for health care.   It’s not.  The same debate that takes place here rages overseas as well.

Tuning in to the Prime Minister’s Question Hour is a good way to appreciate (in addition to the unintended hilarity) how a government-run system doesn’t end the debate, it merely changes it.   Instead of asking questions about universal coverage, complaints arise over seniors being denied care because the government offered care to younger patients.

This article from the UK’s Liberal Democratic Party is illustrative:

“When doctors at that hospital have confirmed that they were instructed by their managers to abandon seriously ill patients and to treat people with minor ailments instead in order to meet the Prime Minister’s targets, it is not enough to talk of reviews, inquiries and to blame other people. Will he scrap the mad targets that make hospitals tick boxes rather than look after the desperately ill?”

Full article is here.  Remember, putting Uncle Sam in charge typically raises the cost, reduces efficiency, and introduces severe unintended consequences: see Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Cash for Clunkers, AMTRAK, etc., etc…

Comments are closed.