taiyuu_otoko
Master Don Juan
A long time ago, over a hundred years or so, healthcare was affordable. Now it's not. What happened? Government, who allowed themselves to be lobbied by business, got involved. Here's a breakdown.
1) 1847 American Medical Association founded. They lobbied government to limit the number of medical schools, the number of medical students, and the number of doctors. Why? The same reason any other company lobbies government: To protect themselves from competition. By artificially keeping their numbers down, doctors artificially raised their salaries.
2)1929 Blue Shield founded. First insurance company. This created a third party payer. Instead of consumers paying producers directly, a third party got involved. This meant that the concept of cost was removed from the equation. When you are shopping for something that you have to pay for directly, you are very concerned with the price. When you are shopping for something that somebody else is going to pay for, the price becomes less important. This leads to a further increase in prices, as people tend to buy more of the service. Originally this was limited to people with certain jobs in high risk areas.
3) Post WWII. The government had wage controls limiting how much companies could pay employees. To increase their bargaining power, companies started VOLUNTARILY offering health insurance. This further led to a rise in prices, as more consumers than ever didn't need to worry about actual costs when visiting a doctor.
4) Medicare. Because of previous events, (supply kept artificially low, and demand raised artificially high) prices skyrocketed. Politicians, in order to get votes from citizens, promised further government funding of health care through government paid insurance. This further increased demand, which further increased prices.
5) Obamacare. This just another in a long line of government intervention into the healthcare market. While it promises to increase quality and decrease cost, it is the same thing that has been done before, and will have the same effect. Higher prices, and lower service, and more money siphoned away from other areas of the economy.
Nobody wants poor people to go without medical care. Nobody wants anybody to die without seeing a doctor. Affordable health care for everybody is a worthy goal and is achievable, but only if the right steps are taken. Please take some time to study the issue from an economic standpoint, and not based only on your own experiences, and your own emotions.
The more government gets involved, the worse it gets. Government and more laws are not the solution. They are the problem.
1) 1847 American Medical Association founded. They lobbied government to limit the number of medical schools, the number of medical students, and the number of doctors. Why? The same reason any other company lobbies government: To protect themselves from competition. By artificially keeping their numbers down, doctors artificially raised their salaries.
2)1929 Blue Shield founded. First insurance company. This created a third party payer. Instead of consumers paying producers directly, a third party got involved. This meant that the concept of cost was removed from the equation. When you are shopping for something that you have to pay for directly, you are very concerned with the price. When you are shopping for something that somebody else is going to pay for, the price becomes less important. This leads to a further increase in prices, as people tend to buy more of the service. Originally this was limited to people with certain jobs in high risk areas.
3) Post WWII. The government had wage controls limiting how much companies could pay employees. To increase their bargaining power, companies started VOLUNTARILY offering health insurance. This further led to a rise in prices, as more consumers than ever didn't need to worry about actual costs when visiting a doctor.
4) Medicare. Because of previous events, (supply kept artificially low, and demand raised artificially high) prices skyrocketed. Politicians, in order to get votes from citizens, promised further government funding of health care through government paid insurance. This further increased demand, which further increased prices.
5) Obamacare. This just another in a long line of government intervention into the healthcare market. While it promises to increase quality and decrease cost, it is the same thing that has been done before, and will have the same effect. Higher prices, and lower service, and more money siphoned away from other areas of the economy.
Nobody wants poor people to go without medical care. Nobody wants anybody to die without seeing a doctor. Affordable health care for everybody is a worthy goal and is achievable, but only if the right steps are taken. Please take some time to study the issue from an economic standpoint, and not based only on your own experiences, and your own emotions.
The more government gets involved, the worse it gets. Government and more laws are not the solution. They are the problem.
