How many people do you know who think their Congressperson has the answers to providing health care in America?  Or, their Senator?  George W. Bush?   Barack Obama or  Hillary Clinton?  Or, for that matter, any politician?  Do they really have the answers?

 

If they can’t do it, then how about the politicians in Canada, or Great Britain?  Have they solved the problem in their societies?  Some people believe they have.  However, in England, where the private practice of medicine was outlawed when socialized medicine was first established there, they were eventually forced to reverse their policy and permit the public to go outside the government’s system to obtain health care from private physicians. 

 

In Canada today, the story is much the same.  Many Canadians come to the U.S. for emergent needs, such as bypass surgery, because the waiting time in Canada is interminable, often many months before their citizens can get life-saving treatment when they need it.  

    

State-Run Health Care

All state-run health care systems have one thing in common: rationing.  Not necessarily involving the use of ration cards, but rationing nonetheless.  Rationing of resources.  The cause is a devilishly simple principle that’s present in all nationalized health care programs.  That is, it’s free, or so low cost that it’s almost free.  Basic economics clearly demonstrates that whenever something is free, the demand quickly becomes unlimited.  The lower the price, the greater the demand.  Give something away and you can “sell” everything you have and more.

   

However, the flip side of unlimited demand is a shortage of supply.  And, not having enough doctors, nurses, or expensive equipment, such as CAT Scans and MRIs, eventually leads to rationing.  Without enough health care to go around, rationing becomes a necessity.  That has been the failing with nationalized health care in England, Canada, Germany, Japan, the former USSR, everywhere it has been tried.

    

So, if there are no politicians who really know what should be done to solve our health care problems why do we keep expecting them to come up with the answers?

   

Just exactly what are the problems?  Too many uninsured?  Too high cost?  Poor quality?  Lack of availability?  All of the above?  Do you know or think you know?

    

What have been the government’s (read politicians’) solutions to date?

 

Health Care Policy

National health care (socialized medicine) in one form or another is the primary health care policy that is gradually being adopted in America.  And it is slowly but surely lowering the quality of the health care we are getting.  Talk to any doctor you trust and see if they don’t agree.  They will tell you that they are working much longer hours for far less money, that many physicians are retiring early or converting to “concierge” practices because they are fed up with the government and insurance company bureaucrats telling them how to practice medicine.  Consequently, there is a growing shortage of doctors and nurses.

    

But, you may say, we don’t have socialized medicine in America!  Perhaps not yet, but we’ve been moving in that direction for some time, and we seem to be going further down that path as the years progress.  It’s a slippery slope.   For example, consider Medicare. 

   

But, Medicare is not socialized medicine, you may insist.

    

Unfortunately, it is, or is headed that way.  Why?  For one thing, it’s a system that’s based on price controls. 

    

Price Controls

Price controls have never worked, ever, in any society at any time in history.  They were tried as early as 301 A.D. by a Roman emperor, Diocletian (243-316 A.D.) who implemented price controls under penalty of death.  But, even that didn’t work, and it hasn’t worked since.  What price controls do is cause shortages, increased costs and disrupted markets.

    

Look at what has happened to the Medicare program since 1984, the year the government changed its method of paying for hospital services from a “cost plus” to a system called DRGs (Diagnostic Related Groupings).  DRGs are a method of classifying illnesses and assigning a comparative value and a specific authorized payment to each.  At that point, many hospitals began to lose money because the government started dictating the prices that are paid for inpatient care.

 

As much as 70% of many hospitals’ patients are seniors, whose bills are paid by Medicare.  The Federal Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) determines, in its sole discretion, the prices that can be charged for seniors’ inpatient hospital care, and then pays only 80% of those amounts.  The differences between a hospital’s standard fees for service and the amounts that Medicare pays must be written off.  They cannot be collected from the patient.  That’s price control.

    

Furthermore, because Medicare payments are determined solely by the government, annual cost of living increases are limited, generally to between 1-1/2% and 2-1/2%, in spite of the fact that hospital costs have been rising for years at an annual rate of anywhere from 6% to 14%. 

    

Another little known fact about Medicare is that seniors are prevented from seeking care outside the Medicare system, even if they are willing to pay the bill themselves.  Any doctor who accepts payment directly from a senior who is covered by Medicare is automatically disqualified from providing care to all Medicare patients for a period of two years.  This is especially important in situations where a patient wants a second opinion and would like to see another doctor.  That type of regulation is certainly an element of socialized medicine.

    

Many Hospitals Lose Money

Between health insurance contracts (HMOs) and Medicare limits on their charges, hospitals generally collect only about 50% of their total billings.  The rest is written off.  The result of all this is predictable: many of them are losing money.  About one-third of all hospitals in California are currently operating at a loss.  With a national health care plan, at some point, many hospitals would either be closed or services curtailed.  That’s been the pattern in every country that has nationalized its health care.  Nonetheless, that seems to be where we are headed, in spite of compelling evidence that it doesn’t work. 

    

Like the proverbial frog being cooked in a pot of cold water, Americans are gradually becoming aware that the quality of their health care is declining, even as costs continue to rise.  It just hasn’t sunk in yet.  When it does, they will undoubtedly be led into believing the government has the answers and demand more government control, regulation and oversight.  And, our politicians will be only too willing to oblige. 

    

Nationalized Health Care

Nationalized health care in America is gradually overtaking the free market, and we are all being slowly cooked in the pot of government intervention.   So, don’t be surprised at the type of health care program we get as time progresses.  Whatever your own conclusions, remember one thing: that our politicians won’t have to rely on whatever health care plan they establish for everyone else.  As usual, they will have their own, superior plan.  And, it will not be a part of the nationalized health care system that the rest of us will be required to use.  If you doubt that assertion, just look at the health care plan that our Federal legislators and government employees have now. 

 

In the interest of full disclosure, I’m one of those seniors who has Medicare health insurance coverage and I ran a hospital for about seven years.

 

© 2008 Harris R. Sherline, All Rights Reserved


About the Author:

I’m withdrawing my name from the 2008 Presidential race. I hate flying, riding in buses, and working. It would be worse if I were elected.

And the field is too crowded!

What? You didn’t know I was running. Don’t you ever read my articles?

Anyway, I’m staying involved in the race. I’ve decided to give important advice to the candidates. The first thing a candidate needs is a slogan like Ike’s I will go to Korea!

I was fighting in Korea. I said to myself, “Bring us ammo!”

Well, Ike said that but that was not his official slogan. His slogan was I Like Ike!

I got that catchy slogan and the other slogans at: http://www.presidentsusa.net/campaignslogans.html

1840 William Henry Harrison: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too
That was a very good slogan. I think John Edwards could use that type of slogan: “I’m a runnin’ agin cuz I’m not through!”

1844 James K. Polk: 54-40 or fight
Hillary Clinton could use something that sounds like that:
“Women over 40, let’s fight to get it right!

1844 Henry Clay: Who is James K. Polk?
Barack Obama could use that attack: “Who is Hillary Clinton?”

1860 Abraham Lincoln: Vote Yourself a Farm
John McCain: “We need those wet-backs to farm!”

1884 Grover Cleveland: Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine, The Continental Liar from the State of Maine
John Edwards: “McCain, McCain, that Guy from Arizona will be a big pain!”

1884 James Blaine: Ma, Ma, Where’s my Pa, Gone to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha
Rudy Giuliani: “Ma, Ma, 911 is what I saw, goin’ to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha”

1916 Woodrow Wilson: He kept us out of war
John Edwards: “Hillary Voted for the War!”

1920 Warren G. Harding: Return to normalcy
Joe Biden: “Get Rid of Lunacy!”

1924 Calvin Coolidge: Keep cool with Coolidge
Coolidge was still alive when I was born but I never met him. Well, I guess I haven’t met any of the others. Barack Obama: “Obama is Hot, Hot, HOT!”

1928 Herbert Hoover: A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage
Hilary Clinton: “I’m not too hot to I talk a lot!”

1952 Dwight Eisenhower: I Like Ike
Hilary Clinton: “I Like Me!”

1956 Dwight Eisenhower: Peace and Prosperity
John McCain: “War is hell but I’m just swell!”

1960 Richard Nixon: For the future
Arnold Schwarzenegger: “Will I have a future?”

1964 Lyndon B. Johnson: The stakes are too high for you to stay at home
John Edwards: “We should pull up stakes and go home!”

1964 Barry Goldwater: In your heart you know he’s right
Rudy Giuliani: George W’s presidency was a fright but I still love him!”

1968 Richard Nixon: Nixon’s the One
John Edwards, John Kerry, or John McCain: “I’m not done!”

1976 Gerald Ford: He’s making us proud again

Barack Obama: “A black Muslim can win!”

1976 Jimmy Carter: Not Just Peanuts
Hillary Clinton: “I’ve got all the peanuts!”

1976 Jimmy Carter: A Leader, For a Change
Joe Biden: “Hilary is just too lame!”

1980 Ronald Reagan: Are you better off than you were four years ago?
John McCain: “Ten years from now will we be able to say that the troops came home four years ago?

1984 Ronald Reagan: It’s morning again in America
Rudy Giuliani: “There was mourning in America!”

1984 Walter Mondale: America Needs a Change
John Edwards: “Americans won’t have any change!”

1988 George Bush: Kinder, Gentler Nation
Joe Biden: “America does not need a wimp like John Edwards!”

1992 Bill Clinton: Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow
Hillary Clinton: “I’m going out of town. What will Bill be doing tomorrow?”

1992 Bill Clinton: Putting People First
Hillary Clinton: “Not those people, Bill!”

1992 Ross Perot: Ross for Boss
John Edwards: “Did I tell you my father was a mill worker?”

1996 Bill Clinton: Building a bridge to the 21st century
Rudy Giuliani: “Building a Bridge to Italy!”

1996 Bob Dole: The Better Man for a Better America

Hillary Clinton: “I’m the MAN for America!”

2000 Al Gore: Prosperity and progress / Prosperity for America’s families
Al Gore: “Remember my old slogan!”

2000 George W. Bush: Leave no child behind
Barrack Obama: “I won’t sit on my behind!”

2000 Ralph Nader: Government of, by, and for the people…not the monied interests
John McCain: “Less talk, more action…except on those wet-backs!”

2004 John Kerry: Let America be America Again
John Kerry: “Oh, PLEASE! Let me run again!”

2004 George W. Bush: Yes, America Can!
Joe Biden: “George W. Bush and Dick Cheney put us in the can!”

Here are some of my slogans that the candidates might give a try:

“No income tax for those over 75!”

“I’ll double Social Security payments to old people!”

“I’ll cancel the Daily Show!”

“The government will deposit $10,000.00 in a private account for each baby born so they can retire millionaires without Social Security at all!”

“I’ll make gasoline out of smog!”

“Dogs and cats will be allowed in public places.”

“It will be okay to shoot a nosy or rude neighbor!”

“There will be no laws on fireworks!”

“Gas station attendants will again man the pumps for old people like they do in New Jersey and Oregon!”

“Companies running commercials on TV will have to pay a ‘Watching Fee’ to each viewer!”

“Cable companies will not be allowed to run TV Guide® or commercials on the television schedule page! Viewers will not have to watch brainless twits!”

“Picking ones nose in public will not be a felony!”

“Smoking and drinking and carousing will be okay in private clubs and on the streets of Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles.”

“Rapist will be surgically neutralized on conviction and released.”

“Murderers will have there hands and feet removed surgically and released.”

“Blasphemers will have their tongue surgically removed.”

Those last three slogans are for Barack Obama’s use.

The End

copyright©2007 John Taylor Jones, Ph.D.
About the Author: