The idea does have an attractive simplicity – protect everyone, drive costs down, eliminate price gouging, improve quality and create a better society. Unfortunately, these are goals, not methods to achieve those goals. The basic premise – that government can fix everything, simply because it is government – is unpersuasive.
Imagine:
- Doctors whose pay is based on seniority, not merit.
- Treatments that do not change because there is no incentive to innovate.
- Hospitals with no incentive to compete.
- Decisions based on opinion polls, not science.
- A health care system that resembles the Department of Motor Vehicles or the local school system.
The entire debate calls to mind an old British joke about their national system:
George notes that his pal Bill has lost a tremendous amount of weight. When asked about it, Bill explains “The doc gave me a pill. At night I dream I’m running on the beach with all the women of my dreams. The weight comes right off.”
George goes to his doc and gets his pills. But he complains that he dreams of running from blood-thirsty cannibals.
“Oh” replies the doc. “Bill is a private pay. You are on national health.”
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