Posted by
Defend America on Friday, November 06, 2009 7:00:17 PM
Part 1 by Thomas Sowell:
The "Costs" of Medical Care
by Thomas Sowell
We are incessantly being told that the cost of medical care is "too
high"-- either absolutely or as a growing percentage of our incomes.
But nothing that is being proposed by the government is likely to lower
those costs, and much that is being proposed is almost certain to
increase the costs.
There is a fundamental difference between reducing costs and simply
shifting costs around, like a pea in a shell game at a carnival. Costs
are not reduced simply because you pay less at a doctor's office and
more in taxes-- or more in insurance premiums, or more in higher prices
for other goods and services that you buy, because the government has
put the costs on businesses that pass those costs on to you.
Costs are not reduced simply because you don't pay them. It
would undoubtedly be cheaper for me to do without the medications that
keep me alive and more vigorous in my old age than people of a similar
age were in generations past.
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/11/03/the_costs_of_medical_care
Part 2:
The "Costs" of Medical Care: Part II
by Thomas Sowell
Although it is cheaper to buy a pint of milk than to buy a quart of
milk, nobody considers that to be lowering the price of milk. Although
it is cheaper to buy a lower quality of all sorts of goods than to buy
a higher quality, nobody thinks of that as lowering the price of either
lower or higher quality goods.
Yet, when it comes to medical care, there seems to be remarkably
little attention paid to questions of both quantity and quality, in the
rush to "bring down the cost of medical care."
There is no question that you can reduce the payments for
medical care by having either a lower quantity or a lower quality of
medical care. That has already been done in countries with
government-run medical systems.
In the United States, the government has already reduced
payments for patients on Medicare and Medicaid, with the result that
some doctors no longer accept new patients with Medicare or Medicaid.
That has not reduced the cost of medical care. It has reduced the
availability of medical care, just as buying a pint of milk reduces the
payment below what a quart of milk would cost.
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/11/04/the_costs_of_medical_care_part_ii
Part 3:
The "Costs" of Medical Care: Part III
by Thomas Sowell
One of the strongest talking points of those who want a government-run
medical care system is that we simply cannot afford the high and rising
costs of medical care under the current system.
First of all, what we can afford has absolutely nothing to do with
the cost of producing anything. We will either pay those costs or not
get the benefits. Moreover, if we cannot afford the quantity and
quality of medical care that we want now, the government has no
miraculous way of enabling us to afford it in the future.
If you think the government can lower medical costs by
eliminating "waste, fraud and abuse," as some Washington politicians
claim, the logical question is: Why haven't they done that already?
Over the years, scandal after scandal has shown waste, fraud and abuse
to be rampant in Medicare and Medicaid. Why would anyone imagine that a
new government medical program will do what existing government medical
programs have clearly failed to do?
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/11/05/the_costs_of_medical_care_part_iii
The "Costs" of Medical Care: Part IV
by Thomas Sowell
What is so wrong with the current medical system in the United States
that we are being urged to rush headlong into a new government system
that we are not even supposed to understand, because this legislation
is to be rushed through Congress before even the Senators and
Representatives have a chance to read it?
Among the things that people complain about under the present
medical care system are the costs, insurance company bureaucrats'
denials of reimbursements for some treatments and the free loaders at
hospital emergency rooms whose costs have to be paid by others.
Will a government-run medical system make these things better
or worse? This very basic question seldom seems to get asked, much less
answered.
If the government has some magic way of reducing costs--
rather than shifting them around, including shifting them to the next
generation-- they have certainly not revealed that secret. The actual
track record of government when it comes to costs-- of anything-- is
more alarming than reassuring.
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/11/06/the_costs_of_medical_care_part_iv