The 5 year survival rate for stage 1 prostate cancer is almost 100% in the US. It is lower around 99% in Canada and about 77% in the UK. The UK has had universal healthcare since WWII and the UK health program is the 3rd largest employer in the world behind only the Red Chinese Army and the Indian Railroad. Healthcare is the top ticket item on the UK budget. The price is high and the care is not equivalent. Why would we want to mimic programs that nowhere are capable of equivalent care? There are many methods that would drive down healthcare and the greatest perhaps is deregulation not more regulation. Right now a significant portion of the problems with coverage is a negative tax structure and heavy and differing regulation. Standardization and less regulation or simpler regulation would benefit the system. Furthermore, Medicaid and Medicare are a drag on the healthcare system as it is. With this infinite third party payer the demand by this segment of the population is huge especially relative to projections and the payout while massive on the taxpayer is often times barely above cost and below costs in some places. The increased demand created by government involvement mixed with downward price pressure hurts the market scaring off new supply in the form of new investment and doctors and increases demand in the form of unnecessary healthcare. This problem will be infinitely increased and the problem worsened by this type of government involvement.
ArchivesJune 2010 Ludwig von Mises: 'Used to the conditions of a capitalistic environment, the average American takes it for granted that every year business makes something new and better accessible to him. Looking backward upon the years of his own life, he realizes that many implements that were totally unknown in the days of his youth and many others which at that time could be enjoyed only by a small minority are now standard equipment of almost every household. He is fully confident that this trend will prevail also in the future. He simply calls it the American way of life and does not give serious thought to the question of what made this continuous improvement in the supply of material goods possible.' - Economic Freedom and Interventionism  |
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