Milton Friedman Tackles Health Care
And by "tackles," I mean "grabbing it from behind and smashing it into the dirt."
If there is anyone out there who is still not convinced that the great Saint Milton has an understanding of reality approximating that of Jonah Goldberg, his comments about health care, recently unearthed by Town Hall, should finally disabuse them:
"The high cost and inequitable character of our medical care system are the direct result of our steady movement toward reliance on third-party payment. A cure requires reversing course, reprivatizing medical care by eliminating most third-party payment, and restoring the role of insurance to providing protection against major medical catastrophes.
The demonstrated efficiency of private enterprise would have a chance to improve the quality and lower the cost of medical care. The first question asked of a patient entering a hospital might once again become "What’s wrong?" not "What’s your insurance?"
(emphasis mine)
Miltie, are you kidding me? The demonstrated efficiency of private enterprise? Tell me, man, what planet did that happen on? Because it sure didn't happen here.
Tell me, why hasn't this happened already? There are over 350 medical insurance providers in the country. Isn't that enough competition to "improve the quality and lower the cost of medical care?"
I'll answer that question myself. Insurance companies and HMO's will never do anything other than offer the least care they can, for the most money they can extort from us. That's free enterprise, and it will never change until we put a whole lot of these people in jail. And then they will still try to run their crooked scams from their cells, like the Mexican Mafia, or the that guy in Pelican Bay with the killer dog business.
If there is anyone out there who is still not convinced that the great Saint Milton has an understanding of reality approximating that of Jonah Goldberg, his comments about health care, recently unearthed by Town Hall, should finally disabuse them:
"The high cost and inequitable character of our medical care system are the direct result of our steady movement toward reliance on third-party payment. A cure requires reversing course, reprivatizing medical care by eliminating most third-party payment, and restoring the role of insurance to providing protection against major medical catastrophes.
The demonstrated efficiency of private enterprise would have a chance to improve the quality and lower the cost of medical care. The first question asked of a patient entering a hospital might once again become "What’s wrong?" not "What’s your insurance?"
(emphasis mine)
Miltie, are you kidding me? The demonstrated efficiency of private enterprise? Tell me, man, what planet did that happen on? Because it sure didn't happen here.
Tell me, why hasn't this happened already? There are over 350 medical insurance providers in the country. Isn't that enough competition to "improve the quality and lower the cost of medical care?"
I'll answer that question myself. Insurance companies and HMO's will never do anything other than offer the least care they can, for the most money they can extort from us. That's free enterprise, and it will never change until we put a whole lot of these people in jail. And then they will still try to run their crooked scams from their cells, like the Mexican Mafia, or the that guy in Pelican Bay with the killer dog business.
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