Healthcare in Other Countries

“Which countries have privatized healthcare like the United States?”

Considering that the US government pays more per person on healthcare than any other country’s government in the entire world, the US system certainly isn’t “privatized”. It’s a patchwork interventionist system. There are many other threads on healthcare that you should look at.

https://forum.freecapitalists.org/t/universal-healthcare/8066 <---- Here is one

My favorite links on the subject of health care are as follows:

http://mises.org/daily/3613 (comprehensive)

http://libertariannation.org/a/f12l3.html (Originally, government solved the health care crisis. The time was about 90 years ago, and the problem was health care costs were TOO LOW. Boy, did government solve this problem.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt0tKl0J-S4 (Stefan Molyneaux two part power point series, the FDA stats starting at 14:20 are important)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124544505 (Modern day mutual aid societies)

Here’s a quick list of government interventions into the free marketplace.

  • Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, COBRA and all entitlements. (Also, price controls are in these programs, ruins pricing mechanism)

  • Intellectual Property (patents on drugs and devices; also leads to patenting of genes, GMO foods, etc.)

  • Licensing of doctors and devices (government transfers licensing power to AMA)

  • FDA drug testing (1962 law started the problems; see Mary Ruwart’s stats on the FDA in the youtube video by Stefan Molyneaux)

  • Rules preventing hospitals from being built (existing hospitals lobby to keep new hospitals out; laws are called “Con laws” http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/02/09/the-con-of-american-hospitals/). Most hospitals operated by government. (http://mises.org/daily/3586) Also, heavy regulation on the few private hospitals.

  • Regulations on insurance. No interstate or out-of-country competition! Insurers are required to cover various conditions no matter what. Etc. Doctors cannot come up with innovative insurance programs (lodge practice type things http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6690656). Regulations that cause insurers to have to take sick people embed a social welfare program into a nominally private industry.

  • Government prohibition of organ markets. Thousands killed every year.

  • Emergency rooms have to take patients no matter what.

  • Tax system causes insurance to be embedded into employment system, rather than an individual purchase. (legacy of WW2 era wage controls)