Crisis (kri sis), n., pl. -ses (sez) 1. a turning point, as in a sequence of events, for better or for worse. 2. a condition of instability, as in international relations, that leads to a decisive change. 3. a personal tragedy, emotional upheaval, or the like. 4. a. the point in the course of a serious disease at witch a decisive change occurs, leading either to recovery or to death. b. the change itself. 5. the point, as in a play, at witch the antagonistic elements confront each other. - Webster's Dictionary, 1990.
Intro:
You may not believe me when I say this, but... There is no such thing as a “health care insurance crisis.” It doesn't exist. It's a figment of the media's collectivist imagination.
Often I come across articles that seem to screech about how many people in the U.S. are foregoing health care insurance, and how dangerous and unfair this is. But this “crisis,” first, implies the notion that we are living with a lack of health care insurance. And second, at least in today's political climate, also implies that government needs to do something about it immediately, or there might be no relief from such a critical state. None of this is true.
First things first. Exactly how many people in the U.S. are uninsured? Official estimates by The National Center for Health Statistics states that “...55.3 million persons of all ages were uninsured for at least part of the year...” in 2008, up from the 45-48 million number that was being quoted just a couple of years ago.
Given the extraordinarily high price of gas over the summer, and the state of the economy today, the increase shouldn't surprise anyone.
Second, who makes up the bulk of these uninsured people? According to the U.S. Census Bureau, at least 17 million of the 55.3 million person total earn over 50,000 dollars per year. Nine million of those earn over 75,000 dollars per year. In one analyst's observation, health care coverage just isn't a “good buy” for them. With the money they make, they can choose their priorities, and apparently health insurance is not on their lists. These people, who for whatever reason, have chosen not to purchase this kind of product, clearly could afford it. They make up just over 30 percent of the total uninsured in this number. So when the total number of uninsured is cited, without bringing this statistic to light, the argument being made is disingenuous.
The real numerical lowdown:
In total, over 18 million of the uninsured are between the ages of 18 and 34, and choose to spend four times more on entertainment than on what it would cost them to obtain health care coverage. Fourteen million are eligible for government health care programs, like Medicaid, but choose to stay out. Twelve million (now more like 14 mil.) are “undocumented workers,” who don't buy health insurance, but, like poor legal citizens, ultimately can still get care, because federal laws demand that hospitals give care to those in need.
So how many are really uninsured? Today, about 11.3 million. Does roughly 3% of the population of the country going without health insurance sound like a “crisis”? Does it sound like “ a condition of instability...that leads to a decisive change.”? Not really. The legal system forces hospitals to care for those who are sick or injured, despite their ability or willingness to pay. They then write off the costs, or a portion of them, which is then passed on to you, the taxpayer. Or the costs are passed on through creative cost shifting (a.k.a. you), and/or higher insurance premiums.
This is insulting, but not enough to turn our health care system into a single payer system. The arguments here are that since the taxpayer is footing the bill anyway, why not just make the whole system, or the majority of it, controlled by government? Then they can decide how, when and in what quantity to use our tax dollars, so costs can be controlled. (I scared myself just writing that last sentence.) I'll dismiss, for now, the fact that the medical industry is arguably the most heavily regulated industry in America. The second part of the gov't controlled argument, is that other countries have similar systems. That prices, care quality, care distribution, taxes and all the rest are kept comfortably in check, while individuals reap the financial rewards of good ol' big brother's all-encompassing arms. If only such simpleminded market manipulations were true. Other countries have tried this. And failed. Many of them who thought that restrictive regulation could be a panacea are actively trying to disengage from a gov't controlled medical industry in its entirety. They've publicly learned a very hard lesson that economists summarize with the phrase "That free lunch is going to cost you."
The Crux of the issue:
But the trillion dollar question is: Is there a lack of health care insurance in the U.S.? No. The people of the United States spent 2.2 trillion dollars on health care in 2007. So the market exists. How about affordable insurance? Now that's a great question. Health care costs have risen roughly 98-100 percent in just the last 10 years. This is a huge problem. But what is the cause? According to many studies, regulation.
What the Cato Institute says specifically in their study is for every two dollars we spend on regulation, we get one dollar of medical benefit. Clearly, the laws of economics are failing to manifest in the medical establishment. According to the SBA, small businesses spend about 1-3, and no more than 5 percent of their revenues on regulatory costs. Large businesses spend less. If this doesn't give weight to the argument of over regulation, nothing will.
In addition, there is another, glaring indicator that a game is afoot in your doctor's office. But it's not your doctor's fault. S/he is just complying with the rules, and working within the market they're given. Here's my personal observation. When you walk into a clothing store, what do you see? Product, cash register, sales person, price tags. When you walk into a fast food restaurant, what do you see? Front desk, cash register, sales person, prices up high. Now walk into your doctor's office. What do you see? Any prices? None. Never. Why? Because you don't pay the price. Your insurance company does. And they can do it, much to their pleasure, behind closed doors, where you can't hear them negotiate.
We don't have a market for health care services in America. There simply isn't one. What we have is a market for health care insurance. All of it manipulated by our government, and protected by insurance special interests, while you get to foot the bill. You're being force fed the story of a “health care insurance crisis,” from the media, and one hand of big brother. All of this goes on while big bro's other hand takes the massive dollars you ultimately don't need to pay in premiums, from the insurance lobby, so they can legally solidify themselves into your lives even more.
There is no “health care insurance crisis.” But there is a crisis. There's no market at all for ordinary citizens to know up front what 10 stitches will cost; what several nights in intensive care will cost; what setting a broken bone will cost. At least not without all of the two dollars of reg's for one dollar of benefit distortions. The best way to get relief from the “critical state” that I talked about a moment ago is to demand less regulation, fewer special interests, and most importantly, total control over your medical care. The real “health care crisis” in our country is that you are not in control.
http://freemarketcure.com/
http://freemarketcure.com/blog/?p=317
http://cdhc.ncpa.org/
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa527.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States#Healthcare_regulatory_costs
http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs186.pdf
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