Why won’t nationalized healthcare work in the US today? Well, it’s the cost. But this is why many people want nationalized healthcare. This doesn’t make sense.
It actually makes perfect sense. Paying for every MRI in the US simply costs much more than paying for every MRI in most other countries. So, it would cost the US government much more than other countries to pay for everyone’s healthcare. Therefore, nationalized healthcare is not how you fix the problem because it does not address the problem — the high cost of healthcare in the US.
Then what’s causing the high cost of healthcare? Money. There’s a lot of money to be made in healthcare. Where there’s a lot of money, there is a lot of power. Simple and consistent with human nature. It’s hard to take a lot of money away from people who have gotten used to having a lot of it.
Recently, our presidential candidates both said they would fix the healthcare problem. Sounds good, but does the president have enough juice or stroke to take a lot of money away from a lot of people who are used to having a lot of it? No, he can’t do it alone. He needs Congress. That’s where the problem lies.
Unlike the president, most governors, most mayors and city council persons, members of Congress can be re-elected for decades, especially Senators. Joe Biden has been in the Senate since 1972. John McCain since 1986. Biden has been a Senator for 36 years. That’s longer than 40% of the people who voted for him have been alive. How do Congressmen get re-elected? It takes money and influence. Where do they get money and influence? From people who have money and influence. After you put that combination together for a decade or so, you don’t need a coloring book to get the point. How do you reform that?
If no member of Congress can serve for more than 8-12 years (Senators get 6-year terms and Representatives get 2-year terms), you have a complete turnover of power on a pretty regular basis. It gives reformers a good chance to get elected. It gives Congress much less incentive to protect money and power.
If you eliminate the protective sanctuary of money and power, then a president and a Congress can take on the money and power in the medical industry to create a better healthcare system.
If we kick ‘em out of the party before they drink too much of the Kool Aid, then we have a chance.
November 9, 2008 at 8:43 pm
There are different ways to approach the health care problem. One way to help the process is for the govt to give tax breaks to providers that charge less for an average visit. Companies that own the whole value chain such as Kaiser in CA have been able to contain costs far better than other providers that don’t own the whole value chain.
It’ll take some backbone but if all the developed nations can contain the costs of healthcare, then we can too. Having a well articulated plan offered as a referendum (eg. Switzerland) might be one way to put the issue directly in the hands of voters.
November 9, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Does that just address a symptom or does it address a cause? The factors that drive up the cost in the US are numerous. Everything from the FDA approval process to meritless malpractice suits. One of the biggest problems is that we have a legacy insurance system to deal with a state-of-the-art industry. It’s like running the space shuttle with 1990 PC’s. Someone’s got to get in there and make some pretty big and expensive changes. Is the problem too big to change?