On Business Week’s website they have a section called the Debate Room. It’s a place where they bring up a hot topic and find two experts to write essays, one for each side of the issue. The topic this month was Universal Health Care, and they featured Onkar Ghate of ARI.
“Universal Health Care: No Sick Joke
Small businesses—and large—have trouble attracting the best job candidates because of the high price of health care. Entrepreneurship demands nationalized medical insurance. Pro or con?” - businessweek.com
The two essays are very interesting, but it’s even more interesting to read the comments and see who supports each side. It seems that people are split on the issue, but more doctors agree with Onkar. They feel that the government is creating an unfair market. One even gave the example of cosmetic surgery where the prices are cheaper because of the lack of government regulations. This allows for the free market and competition to keep the pricing and quality in check.
With the current state of health care I don’t believe there is a quick fix. Also, socializing health care is not the answer. Just look at how bad the government handles education, Medicare, social security, and welfare. Do you want the government to handle your heath care too? Looking at their track record with other social programs, I don’t think it would be a good idea. The only thing that could help the current situation is limiting government interference, not creating more.
One of the comments left one of the clearest and best arguments (also the guy who brought up cosmetic surgery.)
“Forcing everyone into a government-run system of medicine just because some people are uninsured would be just as wrong as forcing everyone into a government run housing project just because some people are homeless.”
Dr. Paul Hsieh
Yeah I like that comment too. It makes it all so clear.
Shameless plug.
I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for awhile now, and I finally have. It’s on http://nationalpower.blogspot.com, and it’s essentially another site for discussing Objectivism, thus making this shameless plug relevant.
Thought you might be interested in the first (and for a brief time, only) post. It discusses the nature of government and proposes a new definition of government in response to the Anarcho-Capitalist critique of Objectivism.
Stupid automatic link included the comma.
It’s http://nationalpower.blogspot.com
AdamP,
Pluging is ok on this site. You should come on the podcast and talk about your site sometime!