5stringJeff
12-06-2008, 11:57 AM
Private-Sector Health Care Leads the Way
Daily Article by Chris Brown | Posted on 12/3/2008
It is easy to criticize the US healthcare system, but we should be clear on one thing: it is not "free market" or "private" healthcare. A free market in healthcare would be more efficient and innovative, and offer better quality products and services, with lower prices than is currently the case.
In addition to the US government's obvious socialist interventions with programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, there are a multitude of other measures that hinder innovation in healthcare — and we can expect only increased involvement under ObamaCare.
While socialists point to the "failures" of the US healthcare system and, by some magical feat of legerdemain that merely exposes their (economic) ignorance, attribute it to the "free market," it is crucial for Austrolibertarians to point out the absurdity of this false reasoning.
For example, the US government accounted for over 45% of all US healthcare expenditures in 2006; it spends almost 20% of GDP on healthcare; indeed, it spends more per capita than any other OECD country, including those with socialist, government-funded healthcare. In short, this is not a free market.
http://mises.org/story/3233
Daily Article by Chris Brown | Posted on 12/3/2008
It is easy to criticize the US healthcare system, but we should be clear on one thing: it is not "free market" or "private" healthcare. A free market in healthcare would be more efficient and innovative, and offer better quality products and services, with lower prices than is currently the case.
In addition to the US government's obvious socialist interventions with programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, there are a multitude of other measures that hinder innovation in healthcare — and we can expect only increased involvement under ObamaCare.
While socialists point to the "failures" of the US healthcare system and, by some magical feat of legerdemain that merely exposes their (economic) ignorance, attribute it to the "free market," it is crucial for Austrolibertarians to point out the absurdity of this false reasoning.
For example, the US government accounted for over 45% of all US healthcare expenditures in 2006; it spends almost 20% of GDP on healthcare; indeed, it spends more per capita than any other OECD country, including those with socialist, government-funded healthcare. In short, this is not a free market.
http://mises.org/story/3233