Politically controlled insurance is a disease
Brian Schwartz, Boulder
Thursday, January 17, 2008
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Health care reform commission Chair Bill Lindsey's recent comments show that he either misunderstands why insurance is so expensive or deliberately misrepresents fundamental issues ("Mandatory health plan participation opposed," Jan. 10).
He wants to force Coloradans to buy politically defined insurance because "the market for health insurance isn't working." But as my free-market proposal to the commission explains, it's not working because government controls have crippled it.
Federal tax policy deeply discounts employer-provided insurance. This locks us to our employer and the costly insurance plans they offer. Hence, insurance companies need not please us, as they know we must change jobs to buy a competitor's product.
Likewise, mandated benefits laws force us to buy expensive policies with benefits we may not need. For example, a widowed wife must buy a policy that covers marital therapy, prostate cancer and maternity. In Colorado, these and other controls add between 20 percent to 50 percent or more to premium costs.
Politically controlled medical insurance is a disease masquerading as its own cure.
Comments
Posted by Earl on January 17, 2008 at 6:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
anytime the government tells you what you have to do, it is corrupt. when the government runs anything it costs more than the private sector providing it period. best example to demonstrate this is Social Security. would you like your health care run like that mess is? socialized medicine was never a big issue untill 93 when hillbillary needed something to do. she wanted the country to depend on her government for everything.
just be careful of what you wish for, as you may get it and it wont be want you wanted. with all the experience she talks about what has she really done that shows results? please someone show me as I have never found anything. I have heard a lot of talk but no action at all, ever. she has a lot of programs that will require a lot of additional tax money, to which she plays the rich can pay for it card, but has never provided exact details on any of her wonderful plans. remember her saying she would 'take' the profits from big oil to pay for her stuff as they dont need it? how long will any company be around if they dont have profits to pay investors, other than the government as they are users and not producers.
Posted by LMRuane on January 17, 2008 at 12:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good letter, Brian. Too many conservatives say that there's nothing wrong with our current health care system. You correctly point out that the government has already messed it up.
Here is a very good lecture on health insurance (recorded in 2001), and on the concept of insurance in general:
http://mises.org/mp3/MU2001/MU13.mp3
That and more lectures from this speaker (Hans Hoppe, professor of economics at UNLV) are linked from this page:
http://mises.org/media.aspx?action=sh...
Here is some information on the speaker:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_hoppe
Posted by SASQUATCH on January 17, 2008 at 4:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ACHTUNG, ACHTUNG...Send that HEALTH NAZI to Havana for a brain transplant. Monopolies are always--ALWAYS--hostile to consumers, they always produce an inferior product at higher prices. In contrast, competition and choice produce higher quality at lower prices. And when folks shop the system with their own money, the free market solution will always work. Once you seperate the consumer from the payer, and have the system run by GOVERNMENT HEALTH NAZIZ, the result is a disaster--ALWAYS.
Achtung, achtung! Mandatory insurance enforced by a GOVERNMENT HEALTH NAZI like Heir Lindsey is a sure fire way to guarantee a heart attack!
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