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A CASE AGAINST GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE
While many hail government health care as long overdue, a closer examination reveals that if implemented, it will pose the greatest threat to individual liberties this country has yet seen.
--11/30/09

In November the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3962, which provides federal reform of the health care industry. In addition the Senate voted to begin debate on a health care reform bill of its own. As this nation comes dangerously close to the specter of socialized medicine, we must examine the case against government intervention in the health care industry if we are to maintain our individual liberties.

Unsustainable Expenditures
Regardless of whether or not federal (i.e., socialized) health care should be part of health care reform, the simple fact is that this country cannot afford such a massive expenditure at this time. This country is currently languishing in an economic recession and the federal deficit is higher than it has ever been. Despite claims that a health care program will be “deficit neutral,” the truth is that somebody always pays the price for government intervention.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that health care reform would cost nearly $900 billion over 10 years. Meanwhile the trust funds for other federal programs—Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—are nearly gone. How can such a fiscally irresponsible government be trusted to run a program that could control nearly one-sixth of the country’s entire economy?

The Chinese government, which has bought much of America’s debt, has expressed concerns that such a massive federal program could be unsustainable. The fact that a communist regime doubts the fiscal policies of a capitalist country should be enough to show that such expenditures are not wise at this time.

Unsustainable Costs
Proponents of a federal health care program argue that it is necessary to control health care costs. However history shows that when government attempts to control costs, it usually inflates them instead. This distorts the free market, and free market distortions always bring unintended consequences.

It is no coincidence that health care prices have skyrocketed the past 40 years, after the federal government imposed price controls through the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The failure to control costs through these programs shows that what is needed is not more government intervention in the health care industry, but less.

Excessive Taxation
The proposed bills feature a lengthy list of new taxes that would be imposed to pay for this massive new program. The wealthy would be taxed more. Private insurance plans would be taxed more. Employers would be taxed more. Imposing new taxes during a recession when everyone is struggling, even the wealthy, will only make the current economic situation worse.

There is a limit to how much the government can tax, borrow and print. There is also a limit to how big a tax burden can be placed on the people before there is resentment and resistance. Excessive taxation will bury this country in insurmountable debt and turn this and future generations into permanent tax slaves.

Reform Current Programs First
Current federal health care programs include Medicare for the elderly, Medicaid for the poor, and SCHIP (Supplemental Children’s Health Insurance Program) for children. All these programs are swimming in debt, fraud, waste and abuse. The end result is that despite these well-intentioned government programs, it’s more difficult than ever for the elderly or the poor to receive adequate health care. Why should a new program be implemented that will be susceptible to the same inefficiency and corruption without first fixing what already exists?

Inevitable Health Care Rationing
Those advocating a federal health care program proudly declare that 40 million more Americans will be insured. However there is no plan to increase the number of doctors, nurses, hospitals or clinics to accommodate all these new patients. Therefore demand will exceed supply, and the inevitable end result will be health care rationing, much like what currently happens in other countries with socialized medicine such as England and Canada.

When health care is rationed, government bureaucrats will decide who is most deserving of care. The first group to be excluded will be seniors because time and resources will not be spent on those who will die soon anyway. Rationing reduces personal choices, makes health care less accessible, and inevitably lowers quality. All of these add up to less individual freedom.

Infringements on Freedom
Any federal health care program could give the government dangerously excessive (and unconstitutional) authority over personal lives, potentially turning American society into an Orwellian nightmare.

Various portions of a federal health care plan can give government access to bank accounts and financial records, which violates civil liberties. Once these records are obtained, the government can then determine whether or not people can afford the services they need and whether or not they are worthy to receive health care.

In addition, a portion of H.R. 3962 states that if a person chooses not to purchase health insurance, he/she is subject to either a fine or imprisonment. This is an unconstitutional infringement on individual freedom. Many studies have shown that the vast majority of people without health insurance:

  • Are illegal aliens;
  • Qualify for an already existing government program but have not signed up; or
  • Simply choose not to participate

People must be granted the freedom to choose whether or not they want health insurance.

Rewarding Inefficiency
If a federal health insurance plan is implemented, private insurance plans will be adversely affected because private plans will not be able to compete with a federal plan. After all, the federal plan will be funded by taxpayer dollars and thus does not need to be efficient or profitable to survive. Quite the reverse—the more inefficient the government plan is, the more tax dollars will be pumped in to keep it propped up.

Since a federal health care plan will be cheaper than private plans, employers will inevitably switch to the federal plan for their workers. Private insurance cannot compete with a federal plan that doesn’t have to operate on a budget, doesn’t have to be efficient, and can never go bankrupt because it will be funded by an endless stream of tax dollars.

The End of American Innovation
People come to America from all over the world for health care because the free market sparks the innovation needed to provide the most advanced care. With government intervention, the free market cannot operate properly. Government intervention can kill the motivation to innovate.

Questions the Government Cannot (or Will Not) Answer
Before any bill is passed, Congress and the president must be forced to answer the following questions:

  • How can this country afford a federal health care program when it will be $9 trillion in debt in 10 years (White House numbers), even without the projected $900 billion cost of the program?

  • Why wouldn’t employers select the federal health care plan when it is cheaper and they will be penalized if they don’t offer health insurance to their employees?

  • People travel to America from all over the world for health care because we provide the world’s best health care through continuous innovation. That innovation is sparked by capitalism. Why spend time, resources and money to develop medications to fight diseases when the government will dictate what kind of care the people should get?

  • If millions more people are insured without any plan to hire more medical personnel, how can there not be rationing?

  • If more people are insured, that means more people will seek health care. Where will all the new doctors and nurses come from to meet this increased demand?

  • How can health care spending be cut by ridiculously adding $900 billion to health care spending?

  • How can we be expected to fund a program that will conceivably comprise one-sixth of the national economy when we are mired in a deep recession?

  • If a government cannot run Social Security or Medicare, cannot help citizens recover from a hurricane, cannot manage a stimulus program or a simple cash-for-clunkers tax dollar redistribution scheme, how can it possibly manage something as comprehensive and enormous as health care for all?

  • Why should federal intervention in health care even be debated? No government bureaucrat should be able to tell an American how to handle his/her health. Personal health is a private issue between a doctor and patient.

  • And perhaps most importantly: where in the Constitution does it empower federal politicians to manage individual health care? Under the Tenth Amendment, all powers not expressly delegated to the federal government (including health care) belong to the states or the people. Health care should be a state, not a federal, issue.

Potential Solutions
Below are some potential reforms that could be made to the health care industry based on free market principles; none of which were adopted in either the House or Senate reform proposal:

  • Adopt tort reform to make it more difficult for doctors to be sued for medical malpractice, to cap malpractice settlement amounts, or to initiate a “loser pays” system whereby those suing for malpractice must pay court costs if they lose the case.

  • Give tax breaks to citizens who voluntarily buy a private insurance plan.

  • Give tax breaks and incentives to private insurance companies to sign on citizens regardless of pre-existing medical conditions.

  • Allow citizens to establish their own private health savings accounts, which can be used in case of catastrophic medical illnesses to offset costs.

  • Initiate reforms to purge the fraud and bureaucratic inefficiency that plagues current federal health care programs (i.e., Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP).

  • Investigate and penalize businesses benefiting from fraud and overpayments in the Medicare/Medicaid system.

  • Abolish special interest lobbying by pharmaceutical companies; the Medicare Prescription Drug Act was essentially written by the drug companies and business must not be granted that kind of influence over legislation.

  • Privatize Social Security and Medicare by giving citizens the option to either have expenses for these programs deducted from their paychecks or to establish their own private savings accounts. The option to take the control out of government hands will make these deductions less vulnerable to mismanagement and waste.

  • Offer a membership program that allows citizens to buy a membership for a set fee directly from a hospital or doctor that would cover routine procedures.

  • Allow doctors more freedom to operate cash-only practices, make house calls, or determine their own patient loads. In other words, allow doctors the choice to operate outside the current bureaucratic system if they desire.

Unfortunately the proposals being made in Congress disregard these free market solutions, and federal intervention in the health care industry will only make all the aforementioned potential reforms more difficult to implement in the future. 

Conclusion
While free health care for all sounds wonderful, the federal health care programs being proposed should scare anyone who opposes government intrusion into their private lives. This legislation, if ever placed in the wrong hands, could severely curtail individual freedom. George W. Bush threatened civil liberties through the military; Barack Obama is planning to do the same through mandatory federal health care. Both equally threaten American liberty and should be opposed.

The free market, not politicians or lobbyists, should decide how to operate the health care industry. The sovereignty provided to the states and the people under the Constitution must not be sacrificed in the name of free, universal health care.

Health care is among the most sacred, personal and private rights any citizen could have, and to put it in the hands of government bureaucrats would surrender many freedoms that generations of Americans have fought so hard to preserve. If the government controls the health care of private citizens, it will become the master, rather than the servant, of the people.