I’m always surprised at which posts draw heat and how they do so. I’ve been getting a lot of email about this post. Most of it is in the form of gloating, as if I’ve “lost” because I showed that the government is rationing.
Um… no.
First of all, please get over the idea that this is a game one side wins or loses. This is much too serious.
Second, please get over the idea that I’m on some imagined side. I’m not a partisan, nor do I believe “all government is good” as some of you seem to think. I will call out government for things I think are bad just as I will call out the private sector. We are all part of a big health care system that I think is terribly flawed. When someone says that we don’t need health care reform, they believe it’s all good. I don’t.
Third, as I told a commenter (perhaps over-excitedly) if you think this sort of rationing isn’t happening in private insurance as well, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. Our whole system rations by ability to pay. We hear about it more from government because that information is public. Private insurance more often gets to keep its books closed. That doesn’t make it better.
Many of you are using this example to say that government should get out of health care. They are rationing. They are the ones denying you care. They should get out.
Really? We’re talking about the permanently disabled here. These people are no longer gambles; they are absolutely, positively going to cost a lot of money. What free market private insurance solutions do you propose for them? Which private insurance companies are going to compete for their business? No one wants to insure a guarranteed loss. It has to be government.
Do you have another solution?
