Maggie's Farm

Kling on the "universal distraction" of "healthcare," at TCS. It begins:

"Nobody is talking about a free-market approach in health care. The spectrum today is between fascism and Communism."
--John Graham

The Pacific Research Institute's John Graham offered this glum assessment during a brief chat recently when he came to Washington, DC for a meeting. He points out that the focus of health care policy is on how to get to "universal coverage." In this context, the conservative approach involves mandatory health insurance. The liberal approach involves expanding government coverage. Hence, it is either fascism or Communism.

The main proponents of "universal coverage" want to throw more money at the current health care system, which strikes me as unwise. I believe that the "universal coverage" mantra is dysfunctional for the same reason that "more money for public schools" is a dysfunctional mantra for education. When your current approach is digging you into a hole, the sensible thing to do is not to dig faster. It is to stop digging.

Later in this essay, I will offer my thoughts about the uninsured. First, I want to present free-market approaches to reform our health care system. I mention the assumptions that I make in offering these proposals.

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