Medical Care Confusion

by

Thomas Sowell


Is there a coherent argument for government-controlled medical care or are slogans and hysteria considered sufficient?
We hear endlessly about how many Americans don't have health insurance. But, if we stop and think-- which politicians hope we never do-- that raises the question as to why that calls for government-controlled medical care.
A bigger question is whether medical care will be better or worse after the government takes it over. There are many available facts relevant to those crucial questions but remarkably little interest in those facts.

There are facts about the massive government-run medical programs already in existence in the United States-- Medicare, Medicaid and veterans' hospitals-- as well as government-run medical systems in other countries.
None of the people who are trying to rush government-run medical care through Congress before we have time to think about it are pointing to Medicare, Medicaid or veterans' hospitals as shining examples of how wonderful we can expect government medical care to be when it becomes "universal."
As for those uninsured Americans we keep hearing about, there is remarkably little interest in why they don't have insurance. It cannot be poverty, for the poor can automatically get Medicaid.
In fact, we already know that there are people with substantial incomes who choose to spend those incomes on other things, especially if they are young and in good health. If necessary, they can always go to a hospital emergency room and receive treatment there, whether or not they have insurance.
Here, the advocates of government-run medical care say that we all end up paying, one way or another, for the free medical care that hospitals are forced by law to provide in their emergency rooms. But unless you think that any situation you don't like is a reason to give politicians a blank check for "change," the relevant question becomes whether the alternative is either less expensive or of better quality. Nothing is cheaper just because part of the price is paid in higher taxes.
Such questions seldom get asked, much less answered. We are like someone being rushed by a used car dealer to sign on the dotted line. But getting stuck with a car that is a lemon is nothing compared to signing away your right to decide what medical care you or your loved ones will get in life and death situations.
Politicians can throw rhetoric around about "bringing down the cost of health care" or they can even throw numbers around. But the numbers that politicians are throwing around don't match the numbers that the Congressional Budget Office finds when it analyzes the hard data.
An old advertising slogan said, "Progress is our most important product." With politicians, confusion is their most important product. They confuse bringing down the price of medical care with bringing down the cost. And they confuse medical care with health care.
Nothing is easier than for governments to impose price controls. They have been doing this, off an on, for thousands of years-- repeatedly resulting in (1) shortages, (2) quality deterioration and (3) black markets. Why would anyone want any of those things when it comes to medical care?
Refusing to pay the costs is not the same as bringing down the cost. That is why price controls create these problems. When developing a new pharmaceutical drug costs roughly a billion dollars, you are either going to pay the billion dollars or cause people to stop spending a billion dollars to develop new drugs.
The confusion of "health care" with medical care is the crucial confusion. Years ago, a study showed that Mormons live a decade longer than other Americans. Are doctors who treat Mormons so much better than the doctors who treat the rest of us? Or do Mormons avoid doing a lot of things that shorten people's lives?
The point is that health care is largely in your hands. Medical care is in the hands of doctors. Things that depend on what doctors do-- cancer survival rates, for example-- are already better here than in countries with government-run medical systems. But, if political rhetoric prevails, we may yet sell our birthright and not even get the mess of pottage.

i had to stop watching at 4:00.
i usually enjoy mr condell's rants against religion,but this is borderline hysteria.
his problem is not with islam but with islamic extremists,who have hi-jacked islam to suit their own agendas by indoctrinating the poorly educated into a fundamentalist,and wrong,interpretation of islam.
he has bought into the propaganda and uses it to forward his uneducated rant.
do some islamic cultures use islam to oppress women?...yes.
is this truly indicative of the original teachings of islam?...no.
while i totally agree with mr condell on the perils of fundamentalist and absolutist thinking concerning religion,mainly islam and christianity,his broad strokes condemning a whole region of people based on such poor knowledge of religious history is just sad.
learn of which you speak before you speak it.
this is not one of mr condell's finer moments.

Ahhhhhhhh!

Damn I dunno why I presumed it has been fixed fairly recently, didn't bother checking, shit. Thanks for pointing out my necrophiliac tendencies in public, appreciated

In reply to this comment by Zyrxil:
*dead things make you horny?

The liberal socialists have made policework a damned-either-way proposition. Imagine the outcry if the police chief had tackled the girl or pepper-sprayed her instead. It would be the same calculated hysteria, differently-worded.

Cops exist in part to deal with people with no social skills; there are going to be situations where it doesn't matter how much grace the cops have; they're still dealing with defiant scum who will ensure the encounter ends badly, either because they don't give a fk or because they reasoned if they look more like victims during an arrest they'll escape justice.

Running from a cop is a crime. The wrongful assumption here is that a cop can only use force when directly threatened, yet s/he is just as justified to use force to protect others, including the victim. The young lady running away could have just as easily ran out into traffic, killing herself or causing an accident which resulted in the deaths of others.

When a dumbass of any age, race, creed or color challenges a Taser, they are not only securing a place in youtube history, they are choosing to become unpaid subjects, testing the limits of the device itself. Needles, wires, sparks, flames, explosions, all the possible outcomes have just been given a receipt.

Internet Armchair Police always know the exact level of force each situation requires. I don't care for cops myself, but they are owed the benefit of the doubt and more respect than given here.

Casualties of war; as I approach the barricade
Where's the enemy? Who do I invade?
Bullets of Teflon, bulletproof vest rip
Tear ya outta ya frame with a bag full of clips
Cause I got a family that waits for my return
To get back home is my main concern
I'ma get back to New York in one piece
but I'm bent in the sand that is hot as the city streets
Sky lights up like fireworks blind me
Bullets, whistlin over my head remind me...
President Bush said attack
Flashback to Nam, I might not make it back
Missile hits the area, screams wake me up
from a war of dreams, heat up the M-16
Basic training, trained for torture
Take no prisoners, and I just caught ya
Addicted to murder, send more bodybags
They can't identify em, leave the nametags
I get a rush when I see blood, dead bodies on the floor

Day divides the night and night divides the day
It's all hard work and no play
More than combat, it's far beyond that
Cause I got a kill or be killed kind of attack
Area's mapped out, there'll be no, Stratego
Me and my platoon make a boom wherever we go
But what are we here for? Who's on the other side of the wall?
Somebody give the President a call
But I hear warfare scream through the air
Back to the battlegrounds, it's war they declare
A Desert Storm: let's see who reigns supreme
Something like Monopoly: a government scheme
Go to the Army, be all you can be
Another dead soldier? Hell no, not me
So I start letting off ammunition in every direction
Allah is my only protection

But wait a minute, Saddam Hussein prays the same
and this is Asia, from where I came
I'm on the wrong side, so change the target
Shooting at the general; and where's the sergeant?
Blame it on John Hardy Hawkins for bringing me to America
Now it's mass hysteria
I get a rush when I see blood, dead bodies on the floor

The war is over, for now at least
Just because they lost it don't mean it's peace
It's a long way home, it's a lot to think about
Whole generation, left in doubt
Innocent families killed in the midst
It'll be more dead people after this
So I'm glad to be alive and walkin
Half of my platoon came home in coffins
Except the general, buried in the Storm
in bits and pieces no need to look for em
I played it slick and got away with it
Rigged it up so they would think they did it
Now I'm home on reserves and you can bet
when THEY call, I'm going AWOL
Cause it ain't no way I'm going back to war
when I don't know who or what I'm fighting for
So I wait for terrorists to attack
Every time a truck backfires I fire back
I look for shelter when a plane is over me
Remember Pearl Harbor? New York could be over, G
Kamikaze, strapped with bombs
No peace in the East, they want revenge for Saddam
Did I hear gunshots, or thunder?
No time to wonder, somebody's going under
Put on my fatigues and my camoflouge
Take control, cause I'm in charge
When I snapped out of it, it was blood, dead bodies on the floor

Cats and dogs living together! MASS HYSTERIA!

Brilliant. I love a man who can speak such sense amidst the hysteria (and drop in the word wisteria).

My trigger emotion to Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Beck, etc. used to be to be outraged by what they were saying. Now I'm pretty much numb or to be more accurate disinterested to what they say. There are so many great minds and ideas on this planet it's a shame to waste energy on such ignorant people.
Anyone who wants to understand what's going on around the world will not go to people like Limbaugh. He feeds and is sustained by ignorant hysteria. His nemesis to exist are facts. To be honest...That he exists may be an indictment to a sub-group that accepts him as relevant. To re-frame; What makes such a large group of people take a person seriously that is so clearly a compulsive liar? Ideologies apart, proven fact vs. fiction. Is it too much religious fundamentalism, too much government and/or corporate propaganda? I don't know. What does seem obvious is that not enough people can think for themselves outside of saying some kind of soundbite. Alright, that's my rant for the night.

You must not live here. Your ignorance of the situation could only be explained by that.

I not only lived there, I helped vote the RINO into office before he lost his balls. Remember, people were fed up with Democrat corruption from Gray Davis, the former governor, enough to boot his butt out early.

Some 30 years ago, Conservatives put Prop 13 on the ballot. It passed overwhelmingly.

It sure did. Prop 13 was a VOTE, wasn't it? In a rare burst of sanity close to the Bicentennial, people voted down more of the same liberalism. I'm well versed on the Prop 13 lie. If only we leftists could get our hands on more property tax money, THEN we could send every illegal alien to college for free and pay for all their medical care (in exchange for votes). We could fully fund all of our welfare programs--rife with fraud and waste--which keep people dependent on us.

I'm well aware that's now how the average liberals see things, and that's why the same errors are made over and over.

Every single motherfucking graph on the planet shows that Reagan was an economic and job-creation nightmare, as was Bush I and Bush II. While Clinton, was not. He actually boosted the shit out of the economy, cut taxes (Reagan raised them) and created the fuck out of some jobs.

Reagan unleashed the power of the American people via tax cuts and the economy boomed. Every income bracket rose. Yes, taxes also went up under Reagan--twice, I think--and guess who controlled Congress not only for his tenure but Bush 41s? DEMOCRATS.

Taxes went up under Bush 41 and...recession. Clinton wanted to raise taxes (much like Obamarx) but was thwarted when America had another burst of sanity and elected enough Republicans to keep him in check. Welfare reform was a roaring success. Of course Clinton's going to take credit for the anomaly that was the tech-boom, built on air.

The charge that Repubicans are just as bad as Democrats when it comes to "fiscal responsibility" at the federal level is true. Once Repubicans get to Washington they decide they'd rather be loved than lead, so they cave in. I can't think of any other reason why when the R's controlled all three branches of government they did NOTHING to change the status quo. Lazy cowards or simply human?

I find it ludicrous that the same liberals that call conservatives hypocrites over "small government" are the EXACT SAME "ACTIVISTS" that throw tantrums whenever attempts to stop government waste or failed, obsolete programs is made. Even the suggestion that a government program be scrapped is met with liberal hysteria. "Look at the evil murderers, trying to starve the poor children!"

All of this arguing, while delightful, is pointless, because beloved Obamarx will end up spending more than George to George--that's Washington to W. Bush--before he's through.
The One will literally bankrupt the US government, except he's no dummy, it's been his plan all along. He is a leftist radical disguised as a moderate, and anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional.

When PRAVDA, the dead Soviet Union's propaganda rag sees things more clearly than the libmedia, there's a problem.

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107459-0/

I respect the Communist Party of America more than any liberal or "moderate" Repubican. At least THEY don't hide who they are or their plans, which are not only unconstitutional, but per the lessons of history, unworkable and immoral.

Have you ever noticed every time a Stalin or Pol Pot declares there will be 'equality for all' he leaves behind mountains of skulls?

This is no longer a fking game, never has been. The statist left has been undermining the true intent and laws of the Constitution since FDR, with plenty of help from "moderate" conservatives. The scum in Congress are no longer bothering to ask if their antics are legal. Tyranny is coming, as usual, in the guise of "taking care" of the people.

holy moly!
thats steve wilson from WTTV here in tampa's fox affiliate.
him and his partner got canned due to exposing monsanto!
that guy is like a rabid dog with a bone....i love him!(not in the gay way)
as for the cop..meh..bad case of douchebaggery.
most likely thought it was a crank caller due to his exstensive career patrolling the "hard" streets of Ledesma.
he's sgt macfarland..private eye..tough guy!
except when confronted with naughty words,then he just becomes..DOUCEHBAG man!
the girl on the other hand,
weeeeell...im torn here.
she is 17,which means she is hormonally challenged.
but lets look at this:
your loved one is on the floor having a seizure only days after brain surgery.
you call 911....by the fourth ring and no pick up,
you say "what the fuck"..only to have an officer answer and ask you if your ready to be polite,and not to use "potty" language.
i think all of us would have a "WTF" moment.
heightened emotional state.
panic and hysteria.
and the very service you are calling for help in this state,
wont help you until you agree to stop the "naughty" language.
language you used before anybody picked up.
seewhatimsaying?
if you blurt out "what the fuck" when you think the phone is ringing,and nobody is listening..god forbid the people you are reaching out to for help.
only to have a cop chastise you for a word you said in what you thought was to yourself.
refuse to help..then hang up??
well,i gotta say...
im calling ya back..
why??
CUZ I NEED HELP!
and you may find that my litany of "potty words" may have grown in size when i do.
cop=epic fail
girl=understandable potty mouth

is this a texas republican asking to stop the hysteria? thats funny. tea bags !!!!!!!! secede !!!!!! obamas a terrorist !!!!!!!!! marxist !!!!!!!!

"What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff."
- Dr Ray Stantz: Ghostbuster! (AKA Dan Aykroyd)

"Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!"
-Dr. Peter Venkman: Ghostbuster! (Bill Murray)

Banning the sale of hollow-tip "cop killer" bullets isn't "taking our guns away".

The hysteria over even the simplest of laws is ridiculous.

Beck is not defending people's rights to own guns.

He's stirring up hysteria, and since most of his fans are fat-headed trogs, that does indeed put a lot of the blame square on his shoulders.

he's an OB right, he should do a Hysteria-ectomy on the USA