Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Single Payer Will Never Work…


We are now hearing the true intentions of Obamacare as a “single payer” system. What that really means is the government becomes the only “insurer” of healthcare. Ultimately the government becomes a monopoly for approval of services provided, and the payment for those services to medical professionals which are doctors and hospitals.

The reason it can’t work is basic economics. Supply and demand will create two systems: one will be for people that can’t afford to pay out of pocket, and those that are willing to pay out of pocket. I will describe the two systems and you tell me which one is likely to prevail.

Single Payer: Under this system the government becomes the insurer and will decide how much the premium will cost, what health services it will cover, and how much it will pay the provider (doctor/hospital) for the service. There is no competition to the government so premiums will continue to rise whether it is through individuals being forced to pay more or some kind of increased tax to subsidize individuals. The individual will only be able to get healthcare that is covered. This is where the death panels come in. In order to contain skyrocketing costs because now everyone thinks healthcare is “free” (demand increases to unsustainable levels), hip replacements for example, will be subject to a government bureaucrat’s approval. If you are 80 years old in marginal health, do you think the replacement will be approved? Long lines, doctor shortages, and poor care will be the results of this system. Doctors and hospitals will create a separate system in order to make more money.

Free Market Care: This system will develop because of the inefficiency, corruption; wait times, lack of doctors and hospitals, and fundamental collapse of the government single payer system. Doctors and hospitals will limit the care they provide to the government system or completely drop out of the single payer system, and start an all cash system. This system will work on all of the free market system principles and thrive. People that can afford to pay will pay out of pocket. They will get excellent care, short wait times, and will get any service based on their willingness to pay. Doctors and hospitals will charge what the market, (people willing to pay a price) keeping them incentivized to provide the service. This is the same principle every business works under in a free market system. This is the system we should be embracing now but we have too many people that think the government is a good alternative, especially leftists.

There will be some attempts by the government to make laws that force doctors to provide service to their patients, and laws that make it illegal to set up private practices, but this will create a revolution of types and most likely will be termed slavery, therefore unconstitutional.

“Single Payer” is code for government controlled, socialist healthcare. The healthcare system can’t sustain itself with the government in control. It will destroy itself under the weight of incompetence. We already have every entitlement the federal government controls now on a path to bankruptcy. Taking on healthcare will exponentially reduce the time it takes to get there…

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