Health Care

Nobel Laureate Economist Milton Friedman explores the unsettling dynamics set into motion when government imposes itself into the health care system.

I've always realized the fight against bigger government is an uphill battle. As long as the government continues to rob from Peter to pay Paul, Paul is usually going to throw his support the governments way.

Now the battle is becoming even harder. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has stated that "Today we vote whether to even discuss one of the greatest issues of our generation - indeed, one of the greatest issues this body has ever face: whether this nation will finally guarantee its people the right to live free from the fear of illness and death, which can be prevented by decent health care for all."

Free from the fear of illness and death? Illness and death can be prevented by big government health care?

By Ryan Liedtky, Originally published in the South Bend Tribune. 
 
When it comes to health care, or any of a number of other issues regarding government, we tend to pervert ourselves with simple notions on all sides.
 
On one side we have the common minimalist approach, which makes sense.
 
On the other side, we have the common socialist approach, which also makes sense.
 

By Evan Matthews, a Hoosier Libertarian.

Many people, including President Obama, have expressed their desire for a single-payer federal health care system. The idea of universal coverage is unimpeachable on moral grounds, but it is economically dangerous magical thinking. Health care reform, long overdue in this country, should empower individuals rather than enforce one-size-fits-all legislation.

Government simply does not spend money well. Take the United States Post Office, for example. In 2007 and 2008 the USPS posted a total deficit of about $8 billion. In both years the USPS took in about $75 billion in revenue. Postmaster General John E. Potter estimates that the 2009 deficit will be a record $7 billion.

By Andrew Horning, orginally posted on his blog We Declare.

At least as far back as the funeral societies of ancient Greece, humans have formed co-ops or investment groups to manage the kind of losses that happen to people rarely, without warning, or as in the case of a funeral, only once. Early insurance organizations, like modern ones, averaged and distributed the losses to make them less painful.

These were not comprehensive relief plans. Maybe a best friend would compensate you for the loss of a favorite hat, but the early societies and later insurance policies were intended to minimize only the loss of a ship, a precious heirloom, or a loved one. Such insurance was rarely compulsory because the benefits were clear, and forced participation would change the mathematics of sustainable cost versus periodic benefit.

By Jonathan D. Salant and Lizzie O’Leary, Originally posted at Bloomberg.com.

Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- If there is any doubt that President Barack Obama’s plan to overhaul U.S. health care is the hottest topic in Congress, just ask the 3,300 lobbyists who have lined up to work on the issue.

That’s six lobbyists for each of the 535 members of the House and Senate, according to Senate records, and three times the number of people registered to lobby on defense. More than 1,500 organizations have health-care lobbyists, and about three more are signing up each day. Every one of the 10 biggest lobbying firms by revenue is involved in an effort that could affect 17 percent of the U.S. economy.