H 23°, L 4° | Tomorrow: 
H 21°, L 6°Hillary Clinton has proposed a plan aiming to provide universal health care for all Americans, aka socialized medicine. On the surface one might ask, �What could possibly be wrong with the government providing health care to every one of its citizens? Who could possibly be against an idea like that?�
There are much greater principles at stake here. Most Americans would be reluctant to oppose any legislation that might suggest providing medical care for people who simply can�t afford it. But as Ronald Reagan once said, �One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It is very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project.�
Ms. Clinton�s universal health care plan is nothing more than another cog in the wheel of government encroachment on our lives. Back in 1994, Bill and Hillary Clinton attempted to implement a similar plan of socialized medicine. Their plan would have created the biggest government bureaucracy in the world, calling for unprecedented tax increases, resulting in the government�s control of nearly one-seventh of the U.S. economy. The Clintons based their plan on the premise that government knows best � not the people, not doctors and not businesses.
Where does this road end? How far will government go? It is naive to believe that government will simply stop expanding into every walk of life when socialized medicine has been implemented.
The health care system is in dire need of reform, but the answer lies in more choice and more competition, not in the government nanny deciding what is best for us. Besides the broader philosophical principles at stake, Ms. Clinton�s plan � and socialized medicine� in general � would cripple the health care field as has been seen in Canada and Europe.
Sure, we can have health care for everyone � if we�re willing to give up the quality of health care we enjoy right now and hand over even more of our paycheck to Uncle Sam in the form of taxes. With a lack of competition in the medical field, there will be less research, innovation and advancement in medical technology. Less of our best and brightest young people will go into the medical field, which will undoubtedly result in universal, but second-rate health care. Additionally, part of Ms. Clinton�s plan makes it mandatory for businesses to provide health insurance to employees. Making this a requirement will only cripple small businesses that are already hard-pressed to compete against larger corporations.
The quality of health care available in this country is the envy of the world. The ability of patients to choose and switch doctors, as well as doctors� ability to choose where they want to practice or how many patients they want to have, would all be controlled by the government, and we will all become just another number in a system.
Even worse, with the largest governmental bureaucracy in the world running our health care system, we will see all of the inefficiencies inherent with bureaucracies. There will be shortages, rationing and waiting lists, and Americans will have less choice about who their doctors are. Under Ms. Clinton�s plan, patients would have a limited choice of several doctors from whom they could choose, so essentially a person�s choice of doctors, procedures and medicines will all be controlled by the government.
In the end, socialized medicine will produce yet another invasion of government into the lives of Americans. It promotes even more dependence on government. Ms. Clinton�s plan to redistribute health care from the rich to the poor, as she terms it, is actually more, as Stephen Warshawsky of The American Thinker states, a redistribution of power �from the people to the government.�
Socialized health care is contrary to the fundamental principles on which this country was founded. If we are still truly committed to liberty, self-reliance, individualism and limited government, then we must reject socialized medicine. Otherwise we will soon find that this was just the first step toward more and more reliance on government and more and more federal programs invading every aspect of life in this country.
Joe Trovato ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in journalism.
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“…would cripple the health care field as has been seen in Canada and Europe.”
According to whom? The American politicians who TELL you their health care system is broken? Their system works fine.
I’m a conservative voter and I despise Hillary Clinton, but universal health care is something that could’ve saved thousands of Americans from losing their homes or money. Greedy insurance companies are in it for profits, not health care. OUR health care system is broken.
Do yourself a favor and go watch that fat moron Michael Moore’s documentary “Sicko.” It’s truly eye-opening and just might change your mind. It did for me.
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Well said, Joe. All HillaryCare does is take away any element of choice in the health care system. If the government really wanted to insure people, they would give people a voucher for health care coverage, which they could at least buy on the open market.
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Everybody who is sick, step forward to get your government health care. Whoa, not so fast, old people.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/27/nhs127.xml
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OMG SOCIALISM !!1!
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Competition promoting good only works when you have a free choice. No one has free choice in health care since once one is sick one is effectively unable to switch and when really sick no one will insure you.
Health care is not the same as car shopping. The idea that one economic idea — in this case the “free market” (which never has and never will exist, but that’s another story)— will fit all situations is asinine, and moreover blatantly wrong.
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Do you have health insurance, Joe? I don’t. I am an undergrad student here at UW. When you hear the statistic that 1 out of 7 Americans is uninsured, it is very real and very serious. Uninsured patients cost hospitals unimaginable amounts of money. My husband got in a serious accident without insurance and racked up a monstrous bill at a young age… well the hospital graciously absorbed that cost, lucky for him (and me). This is a huge problem, and maybe universal, government-managed health care is not the answer, something better come through. You don’t realize what you have until it is gone, as they say…
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“Do you have health insurance, Joe? I don’t. I am an undergrad student here at UW.”
Then you are an idiot. Cut back on the beer or the cable bill and BUY THE HEALTH INSURANCE which is easily available to undergrads.
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“Well said, Joe. All HillaryCare does is take away any element of choice in the health care system.”
WRONG! Ever hear of medicare? It’s socialized medicine and its patients can see who they want.
The Veterans’ Administration hospitals are also socialized. Would you not get treated at one of these hospitals because of their inferior brand of medicine? If so, why would you allow your troops to be cared for in such a system?
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Universal health care is clearly not the answer but the current system is obviously not working either… and PS bureaucracy is everywhere you look. rules, regulations, and having to go in circles to get things done is the way of life.
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“well the hospital graciously absorbed that cost”
The other customers of the hospital absorbed the cost. Nobody really wants to pay for insurance but some have a choice - like you. Others get health insurance as part of their compensation whether they want it or not.
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Holy crap, shut up Joe. Just shut up. Stop drinking Kool-Aid and realize that in real journalism, we present something called “evidence” to back up our claims.
As 2:58am said, your claim that universal health care has crippled the system in Canada and Europe is just plain wrong. Stop repeating Republican talking points and look at this objectively.
The fact that you continually call it “socialized medicine” shows that instead of having a rational discussion, the foundation of your argument is based on striking fear into the heart of your readers. Oh no! It’s the socialists! Watch out!
I’m sick of the politics of fear, and so is everyone else. And what about this:
“It is naive to believe that government will simply stop expanding into every walk of life when socialized medicine has been implemented.”
OK, so that means the government has no right to tell a woman what to do with her body, right? Then why are so many people trying to overturn Roe v. Wade?
And what about gay rights and gay marriage? Shouldn’t the government stop encroaching into our bedrooms to find out who we’re sleeping with? Nope, instead they want the Federal Marriage Amendment.
The free market doesn’t work here because it’s not a truly free market. Insurance companies are driven by profit alone, which means all prices are exorbitantly high. If we provide some government regulation (like Healthy Wisconsin would have), it will actually LOWER average prices overall.
Of all the people I know on state health insurance, I’ve never heard anyone complain.
So I’ll repeat Joe: Just. Shut. Up.
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“Well said, Joe. All HillaryCare does is take away any element of choice in the health care system. If the government really wanted to insure people, they would give people a voucher for health care coverage, which they could at least buy on the open market.”
Yeah! Cause then your tax dollars could be used to pay the bloated salaries of corporate insurance executives! Talk about the rich getting richer…
As for Joe, your column is dumb and fascist. I felt like I was reading something by Newt.
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Yeah, government is genius at all it does. We should have it do everything.
Government is driven by Bureaucracy alone - and that’s a HUGE problem.
Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions. Those dedicated to the goals the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely.
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“Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy”
There’s no such law. Perhaps “theory” is a better characterization.
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Joe’s lucky his mommy and daddy provide healthcare for him. If he had to go out and get it himself, he’d fail miserably.
IP hash: 13788092
Perhaps you have an example of a mature Bureaucracy which does not adhere to the Iron Law?
Anybody, anybody, Bueller?
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Do you play much HACKy sack Joe?