Should you depend on politicians for medical care?
July 7th, 2009 | by Brian Schwartz |Each of us, at the end of the day, has more control over the size of our bank accounts than we have over politically influenced bureaucrats. — Donald Boudreaux
Keep this in mind when considering if it’s a good idea to let politicians decide who gets medical care. This is not a defense of the status quo, as government gives insurers too much power by discounting their products with the tax code. Here’s the context of the quote — it concludes a fine article about why medical costs are increasing:
tags: choiceSome proponents of the idea that medical care differs so much from other products that it cannot be compared to things like accounting or food say that “in matters of life and death, people aren’t willing to make the trade-offs that they make when deciding how much of other things to buy.” The idea is that a person on his or her deathbed will not care about the price of the costly medical procedure required to prolong life.
This “deathbed” tale is likely true. But it’s difficult to see how it counsels that we socialize medical-care payments. Does anyone seriously suppose that decisions by government bureaucrats over who will get, and who will be denied, some expensive lifesaving procedure would be better than having such decisions made according to each patient’s willingness and ability to pay?
In either case, some people will be denied care. I’d prefer that the impersonal forces of the market direct such decisions than to have them made by bureaucrats. Each of us, at the end of the day, has more control over the size of our bank accounts than we have over politically influenced bureaucrats.
