Krugman's stance 'nonsense on stilts'
Dave Olson, Westminster
Thursday, December 13, 2007
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In his column of Dec. 3, "Obama's sorry plan," The New York Times' Paul Krugman wrote in support of universal health insurance, "letting people opt out if they don't feel like buying insurance would make insurance substantially more expensive for everyone else."
First of all, I consider it immoral to force people to pay for health insurance that they do not want.
Second, it is nonsense on stilts. Adding more people into an insurance pool will simply add their cost to the total. Dividing the insurance cost among more people will not save money, when their costs have to be accounted for as well.
Third, health insurance is not health care. It doesn't even insure health care. Its only purpose is to insure that people in the medical profession get their fees paid. It should not be the responsibility of taxpayers to guarantee a doctor's standard of living.
Fourth, a better approach would be to stop using health insurance to pay for minor medical care. When it's used for things like getting a vaccination, treating a hang nail, or having a routine checkup, that drives the costs of both insurance and health care higher for everyone.
Comments
Posted by Earl on December 13, 2007 at 7:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Dave you need to understand that opting out would weaking the control the liberal progressives want the government to have over you and everything in your life.
think about this
"Why is it that of all the needs in life, all of the needs -- not wants, all of the needs -- that we have in this country, how is it that we're close to 50% of the American people who think its somebody else's job to provide it for them? They're self-reliant when it comes to buying their homes. They're self-reliant when it comes to buying their cars, self-reliant when it comes to buying their lawn mowers, self-reliant when it comes to buying their televisions, self-reliant when it comes to buying hotel rooms, self-reliant when it comes to buying food, self-reliant when it comes to buying hardware supplies. Why is it that so many Americans now think that health care and insurance, is something they don't have to be self-reliant about? Does this trouble you?"
would someone please tell me of a government program that has everworked and stayed with in the budget that was told to the american people? big clue there isn't one and health care would be the worse of all of them.
Posted by BrianSchwartz on December 13, 2007 at 9:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Nice letter Dave. Right on. If you haven't already, check out the Colorado-based group Freedom & Individual Rights in Medicine at WeStandFirm.org. Also, economist Arnold Kling has some good insights on Krugman's style of argument (people who disagree with Krugman are bad people with unsavory motives - simple as that!) at TCSDaily.com.
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