Health Care

A Modest Health-Care Proposal

by Sheldon Richman September 16, 2009

Enough dithering! President Obama says it’s time to act on health care. I agree. But act how? Are we really going to be happy with the pussy-footing proposals floating around Congress? All the so-called reformers want to do is tinker with insurance regulations. But how effective would that be, considering that the insurance companies themselves support the changes? We have taken ...

Health-Care “Reformers” Duck the Hard Questions

by Sheldon Richman September 4, 2009

Advocates of what is called health-care “reform” must lack confidence in their case. Were they sure that more government control of medicine and medical insurance was a good thing, they would answer the opposing arguments rather than marginalize their adversaries as corrupt or crazy. In debating a controversial issue, a good-faith participant rebuts the strongest possible opposing arguments. He doesn’t ...

Welcome to Post Office Health Care

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 2009

America’s health-care system has problems — all traceable to government intervention — but it could be worse. And if the so-called reform emerging in Congress is enacted, it will be worse. The nub of the plan is that everyone must have health insurance and that all but the smallest employers should provide it. If someone doesn’t have coverage, he’ll be ...

When Will the Health-Care Debate Start?

by Sheldon Richman August 14, 2009

I’m waiting for the health-care debate to start. The preliminaries have been spirited and loud, but how about a debate? You may think there’s been a debate, but if you’d been listening carefully, you’d realize it’s a fake, like professional wrestling. To be of value a real debate requires fundamental disagreement. But this pseudo-debate is between one side, led by President ...

Four Arguments against Socialism, including Medicare

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 12, 2009

Senior citizens are frightened over the possibility that President Obama’s health-care plan will adversely affect their Medicare coverage. Their attitude reflects how socialistic programs have converted a once-proud, strong, and independent people into weak, frightened, dependent wards of the state. The first argument against any socialist program, however, is the moral one — that it’s wrong to take what doesn’t ...

Obama’s Health-Care Snake Oil

by Sheldon Richman August 5, 2009

Barack Obama is an extraordinary politician, but not even he can defy the laws of economics and logic. Obama promises that with enough power government will (1) ensure that everyone has the wherewithal to buy ample medical services, (2) lower the price of care, but (3) not interfere with our choices. He sounds like the Wizard of Oz. The reason Obama ...

What We Spend on Health Care Is None of the Government’s Business

by Sheldon Richman July 30, 2009

“Preventive care” is one of the magic formulas often invoked in discussions of so-called health-care reform. Don’t worry about the apparent costs of reform, we’re told, because we’re going to save a ton of money with — fanfare — preventive care. To listen to this promise, you’d think no one would get sick if the ...

The Health-Care Debate Needs a Dose of Reality

by Scott McPherson July 30, 2009

The current debate over “reforming” health care in America — and lest anyone need reminding, “reform” means more laws dictating our health-care decisions — is a perfect opportunity to start asking important questions about the world around us. In an essay written in 1973, “The Metaphysical versus the Man-Made,” the philosopher and novelist Ayn ...

The Fatal Conceit of Health-Care Reformers

by Sheldon Richman July 20, 2009

It’s easy to get distracted by the details and crushing cost estimates of “health-care reform” while losing sight of the key question: Can a handful of congressmen, most of whom probably have never even run a small business, design an entire market for medical services and insurance? A few moments’ thought should be enough to ...

Obama the Health-Care Reformer Should Grow Up

by Sheldon Richman June 29, 2009

Barack Obama insists he does not want the government to run the medical system. He insists that he wants only to fix what’s broken while leaving what works intact. Taking him at his word, this is typical of Obama. His desires are a primary, things that can be achieved if only we want them badly enough. ...

Socialism and Medicine, Part 4

by William L. Anderson August 1, 2008

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 Obviously, the first fundamental of a free-market system in medical and health care would be the absence of coercion. This precept extends far beyond the question of whether or not people should be forced to purchase government “health insurance.” Indeed, the idea of free markets should ...

Socialism and Medicine, Part 3

by William L. Anderson July 1, 2008

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 Economic historian Robert Higgs has written that people often will hand personal responsibility to the state either when they are fearful that something will happen to them or when they have a fear of losing something. Moreover, governments are able to harness the destructive power of ...