Free Market Health Care. The health care solution missing in the national discussion.

Free Market Health Care.
The health care solution missing in the national discussion.

By Centinel



One of the most frustrating things today is progressives pointing at failing socialist policies as proof of free market capitalism failing. What we have seen the last decade or so is the slow, methodical creep of socialism into our government. With the result that many in our country think that our system no longer works. Done on purpose by those who wish America to be a centrally planned nation. Our health care system is the most recent and best example of how centrists reach their goals. Centrists/socialists work long term. Decades to achieve a goal is nothing. Looking at changes through the years allows many things to fall into place. First of all, universal health care was a goal in the FDR platform. They couldn’t make it happen because of the cost. The progressives re-grouped and started undermining the free market health care system using the “Great Society” of Johnson as cover.  By growing Medicare and Medicaid over the next few decades, it allowed control over the health care market because the government would control the costs paid for any given procedure. Doctors, at first, loved the idea as government money was sure money. But in time, government money became a burden due to overwhelming paperwork and the government paying pennies on the dollar for procedures. These policies caused pressure in the private sector insurance because of rising costs. Because of government intervention in the private sector, doctors had to charge a premium for those who would pay, the insurance companies. Along comes Obama on his white horse to save us all from the big bad insurance companies. Congress was standing in the way. To get this legislation through, it would need a 2/3 majority in the senate. The way the bill passed is the Democrats changed the rules of the Senate. Harry Reid declared the health care bill as a budgetary item and that would allow a passage of the vote by 51%. Still it was a hard sell, requiring shady deals to pass the bill. A quick search on Google will give you the details. We have Obamacare. It is failing. This election year the talk is single payer.
We are at the culmination of a long, well-fought road perpetrated by the socialists to bring America socialized medicine. Why? The central planners wanted that huge pile of health care money that they couldn’t control to turn it into a huge amount of money they could control from Washington. Remember what they did with Social Security? Follow the money.

The biggest contributor was the third-party payer.  Hiding the costs of health care from the person that received the care caused prices to spiral out of control. Take a simple example. Let’s say you have your car repaired after a fender bender. When you pick up the car you look at the bill. Doing a quick audit you notice that the windshield wipers and tires changed but you didn’t need or approve that - you needed a fender replaced. You have grounds to question the work and to decide if something isn’t correct on your bill. Fair Enough. It may be an honest mistake. In this situation, you are in control. What happens under third party payer? Your insurance company pays the bill and you sign a piece of paper and drive off. Why should you care? The Census Bureau reports that (47%) of health care expenditures in 1960 paid by consumers out-of-pocket, by 1990 the share had fallen to 20% and by 2009 12%. … Proof that when people spend their own money, they are careful shoppers. And when consumers are careful shoppers, that leads to pressure on producers and providers for efficiency. Because of the third-party payer, health care expenses have climbed close to twice the rate of inflation.
Here is a youtube link that goes in depth on third party payer.
https://youtu.be/Pl3LwMGFAFM

Why is single payer so bad? Good question. The answer lies not in speculation but in real world facts.
Single payer is the system used in many countries.

Here are the problems:
Single payer takes decisions from you and your doctor and places them into the hands of a bureaucrat.
What criteria does a bureaucrat use to determine if you need care?

1) How much money has been spent on you?
2) Your overall health
3) Your age - If you are over 50 the procedure is weighted on cost vs time they think you will live.
4) Eventually, your value to the state. If you are in your peak productive years or will be - your value calculates on how much taxes you will generate to repay the state - (don’t discount this). This criterion changes the longer single-payer becomes entrenched in a country. We know that human value cannot be calculated. Government does not, they are only concerned with efficiency.
Think about this - Canada, UK, Australia, and Sweden are allowing the private sector to start taking over health care. In other words - they are moving away from single payer.

Here is the biggest reason to be against single payer.

We can’t afford it.
Here is a quick look at how Bernie Sanders plans to pay for single payer. Bernie’s plan has 2.2% percent tax coming out of the workers paycheck when paid, with the employer having to contribute 6.2%. At year’s end, with an additional tax on income. So much for the argument that this takes the health care burden from the employer and makes them competitive and saves you money.
Bernie Saunders plan (Medicare for all) would run up the health spending to 44 Trillion between 2017 and 2026. (If implemented).
It isn’t workable in a country this size.

Single payer plans have to ration care. With one legal entity controlling the money, that entity has total control over price.
It rations by dictating what services it pays for and what it won’t. Canadian Medicare assigns global budgets to hospitals, sets provider fees, and uses price controls on drugs, medical devices, equipment, etc. British National Health Service refuses to pay for many Cancer therapies to keep costs down.

Waiting lists are necessary for single payer because the government has to make sure that facilities, equipment etc. are used at full capacity. Waiting lists lower costs because some people get better. Some die waiting for care.
Here is another example how the government saves money.
Medicaid and disability in the US create a maze for a person to wade through, the purpose is to get the person to give up. To the government, it is a game to save a buck. Appeal after appeal after appeal etc. Ask anyone who has tried for disability. Everyone knows you get turned down until you get a lawyer. But I thought single payer eliminates special interest? Think again.

Single payer reduces the quality of care by limiting the ability of physicians to invest in advanced medical equipment, taking advantage of newer technology. This limits access to care in the long term, as the prospect of lower lifetime earnings reduces the incentive for talented people to choose careers in health care. It reduces the rate of medical progress because fewer talented people receiving medical training decreases the supply of talented medical researchers.

Single payer will get to the point to where you will have to buy insurance anyway to get immediate, proper care. If you get a cold, break a leg, or have a minor emergency, single payer will take care of it. Get a hernia, be prepared to wait for a year. A supplemental plan comes in. The USA may not allow it, so doctors will practice in Mexico, or somewhere overseas, and your supplemental plan will pay for the airfare, doctors procedure and stay with a return trip. Health providers and insurance companies are working on this now. So if you have to buy insurance for proper care, what have we accomplished?

So much for single payer - it won’t work - take the VA as an example of what we can expect.

What is the answer?
Free market health care. What worked for years but abandoned (or sabotaged).

Having catastrophic free market insurance is the answer to our dilemma. You go to the doctor with the sniffles - you pay out of your pocket. This will allow the market to correct itself and doctors will again be able to have family practices. It will also keep costs down - $75 - $100 per visit. If you have to go to the hospital, your insurance plan takes over. In a sane world, you would audit the bill and approve it. Keeping things honest. The market would find a level so the insurance companies would make money, you would get a good deal, and the doctors and hospitals would make their money. What about the poor? The US has always had a safety net for those who cannot pay. Each hospital would have a fund to draw upon to help those who need it. It’s the system we have now. Don’t expect to go to the emergency room with the sniffles and expect it free. Health savings accounts are one of the best ideas to come along. Stay with a plan long enough and do not use it, it starts to fund itself.
Do these plans need oversight?
Of course. 
Just like IRA’s and Keogh’s.
It will work, the country has lost faith in free markets and is looking for government to provide easy answers, even if those answers have been proven not to work.

References:
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2009/04/single-payer-why-government-run-health-care-will-harm-both-patients-and-doctors
http://www.beckersasc.com/news-analysis/single-payer-why-government-run-health-care-will-harm-both-patients-and-doctors.html?tmpl=component