Why stop at universal health care? Imagine a world where every year the government sends you a check for a million dollars and a note that says have a nice year. Do not worry about paying for it, we can get the Europeans to pay for it or maybe China… Who can oppose a world where you get something for free? But why has every liberal state from Vermont to California rejected universal health care, why do states need the Federal government? Don’t the states and the Federal government have the same resources… the American taxpayers…
This is absolutely an economic issue not a political one… which Americans would oppose free health care for everyone if no one had to pay for it. What American would oppose free housing for everyone if no one had to pay for it. If the Chinese call tomorrow and offer to pay for every American to have health care and housing with no strings attached, who would oppose that?
Let’s stick to the real world. In the real world, we make tough decisions. If we want universal health care we will need to make one or more of the following decisions… which is fine, if we are willing to make them.
We will need to shift resources going to other things including food, rent, clothing, investments, the military, travel, entertainment, etc. to health care. How much are you willing to give up? A little, then we can cover a few more people… a lot, then we can cover everyone… it is cheating to say, other people should pay. How much are you willing to give up?
Alternatively, we could just cut prices for health care products and services and use the savings to cover people not presently covered. Germany has used this approach for years… which is why doctors are starting to stage strikes now and then and emigrating away from Germany. But its not a bad idea, even if it means the people working in health care today should be prepared to earn less or lose their jobs altogether. If you are not one of those people, it may seem like a fair trade. If you are one of those people, maybe not. But seriously paying less means we can get more for our money as long as we convince people who work or invest in health care to accept less. A discussion worth having.
Give people less health care per person, so we can give more people health care. This can take three forms: rationing including the infamous death panels where people decide high health care users close to death should simply not get any health care or aggressive medical management designed to avoid using health care resources unnecessarily or where they won’t do any good, or finally, invest in prevention (people love this one, but it is harder to do than it sounds). How do I force someone to take their medication so they don’t end up in an emergency room? Should I make them pay for failing to take care of themselves… how much, the full cost or just a painful reminder?
It really does come down to economics. We can provide universal health care by spending more, rationing its use, or demanding lower prices. In each instance someone is “paying” for the decision, no matter how you couch it. The reason we don’t have universal health care in this country is because as a country we can’t agree who should pay for it…
Hint: anyone promising the wealthy will pay for it really means either you or your grandchildren will when the National Debt maxes out. Interestingly just as our country is struggling to expand health care to everyone, European countries are struggling with how to pay for what they already provide. As such universal health care is not universal… in fact, only one country offers truly universal health care… and its not in Europe!
