Does the government making a public option really help lower income families? Will it lower premiums down for all people and keep insurance companies honest?
Whats wrong with having the Government be in competition with private companies and allow people to have a choice?
Now dont get me wrong, I don’t want the government competing with private companies I’m just curious as to the consequences of them doing so.
Government made the problem. So why do people repeatedly go back to the government to clean up their perpetual mess?
That’s not called “competition”. It’s called coercion.
coercion
Hi Joe
The actions of Governments cause many problems with the provision of healthcare, all around the world. Other people may be able to refer you to good articles on specific problems, in specific countries, caused by Government.
Some examples of these problems are:
Artificially reducing the supply of doctors (and others that work in healthcare) by requiring them to hold a license issued by the Government and limiting the number of students that are allowed to study medicine. These two regulations (common in many countries) reduce the supply of doctors, making it harder/more expensive to hire a doctor when you really need one (if you remember your economics, if the supply of something is reduced it will generally get more expensive).
Many Governments spend a great deal of money on healthcare. This is very expensive. When people don’t have to pay the full cost of healthcare, they use more of it (if the supply of a good/service is subsidised, people will consume more of it). This drives up the consumption of that good/service. Often this means that a good/service is being overconsumed. For example, many people in my country visit their doctor far too frequently, because it is heavily subsidised for young people.
There are many more problems with government provided healthcare, which I don’t have the time to cover in a small post!
The second point I should make is that of coercion. As you know, in order for a Government to provide healthcare, they must first tax their citizens.
‘Tax’ is just another word for theft. Just like theft, it requires the use of force (or the threat of force) to take property from a person against their will. If a thief mugs you in a dark alley, they take your money at the point of a gun. If the Governement ‘taxes’ you, they do so with with implicit threat of violence if you con’t comply. Essentially, the Government steals your money at the point of a gun, just the same as any common thief.* For a government to provide any healthcare, they will have to use force to fund it. By contrast, a private company can only fund itself by providing a service that you’re willing to pay for - there is no coercion involved. Competition can only exist between private businesses/companies/individuals - it cannot exist where there is coercion by one or more parties in the market. Therefore ‘competition’ by the Government within the healthcare industry is nothing more than offering the loot of taxpayers to those favoured by the Government. As for ‘allowing people to have a choice’, taxing someone (using force to deprive them of their money) is depriving them of their choice.
*If you don’t believe that the Government is willing to use force to extract taxes, stop paying them and refuse the police entry to your property. Better yet, try defending yourself when they storm your house.
In conclusion:
There are serious problems with Government healthcare.
It requires the use of force against people (taxpayers) to force them to fund the healthcare - aka theft.
It is not competition - it’s more like taking a sword to a soccer game.
The Government IS the problem - more Government IS NOT the solution.
The public option is nothing buy a government subsidized “insurance” provider run directly by the government. The claim for lowering premiums is absurd! It will be financed by taking money out of your pocket in addition to any premiums you have already paid for private “insurance”. How else will it be financed. Also, the program can only increase the demand for medical services raising prices even further and causing your premiums with the private “insurance” to also rise. This is not about competition! If they wanted competition they would deregulate and decartelize the industry.