In the UK we are constantly told that the American health system is a free market and if we were to abolish the dyer NHS it would be like it is in the US. I know the first part of this statement to be patently false however I lack detail. Could any of you either forward me an article or summarise for me the general health system and the interventions in it?
The atoms tell the atoms so, for I never was or will but atoms forevermore be.
Yours sincerely,
Physiocrat
Well, First off States have unconstitutionally placed barriers to the sale of health insurance across state lines, yet congress and the supreme court have done nothing to lower these barriers since the passing of a 1945 law explicitly allowing states to control their insurance markets. Then the state governments create on average up to 1,200 or more mandates on local insurance companies, forcing them to offer particular services to their customers regardless of if the customer wants them or not. So we cannot shop outside of our states for health insurance like we can with mortgages and loans and nearly every other product. On top of this the insurance premium we pay is hiked up by politically well connected interest groups wanting a guaranteed consumer market by forcing health insurance to cover things such as chiropractors, viagra etc (and a myraid of things that other Nationalized health services don't even cover but our private health insurance must cover by law). So essentially our private insurance has to a cover detailed list of things in everyone's health plans and on top of it things such as managed care and HMO's are government mandated health insurance cartels to regulate the insurance industry which only aids the poltically connected health insurance companies on the inside and raises barriers to entry for competition. For instance Blue Cross Blue Shield is the name of my health insurance and they refuse to allow ANY sort of deregulation in the market, even getting rid of mandates, since they know it would introduce competition. Also they oppose any full blown government Health insurance such as the United Kingdom's NHS. Lets not forget that mutual aid societies/ friendly societies use to provide doctors for their members that would visit patients at home but this practice was outlawed by the American Medical Association by creating strict licensing regulations through state governments and hence eventually creating a government/private doctors cartel that controls the licensing of medical schools and doctors themselves. And for the record this is just a very brief summary of the state of United States health care. The mandates alone create all sorts of markets problems. I suggest you read the link I will provide, that talks about what Health insurance Vs. a hypothetical Hunger Insurance would teach us about American Health care. Here is the link below.
http://www.fee.org/publications/the-freeman/article.asp?aid=2114
Thanks for the link Deist. In addition, Kelley's A Life Of One's Own goes into considerable depth regarding the US health industry; it should be of use to you Physiocrat.
Deist: Well, First off States have unconstitutionally placed barriers to the sale of health insurance across state lines, yet congress and the supreme court have done nothing to lower these barriers since the passing of a 1945 law explicitly allowing states to control their insurance markets. Then the state governments create on average up to 1,200 or more mandates on local insurance companies, forcing them to offer particular services to their customers regardless of if the customer wants them or not. So we cannot shop outside of our states for health insurance like we can with mortgages and loans and nearly every other product. On top of this the insurance premium we pay is hiked up by politically well connected interest groups wanting a guaranteed consumer market by forcing health insurance to cover things such as chiropractors, viagra etc (and a myraid of things that other Nationalized health services don't even cover but our private health insurance must cover by law). So essentially our private insurance has to a cover detailed list of things in everyone's health plans and on top of it things such as managed care and HMO's are government mandated health insurance cartels to regulate the insurance industry which only aids the poltically connected health insurance companies on the inside and raises barriers to entry for competition. For instance Blue Cross Blue Shield is the name of my health insurance and they refuse to allow ANY sort of deregulation in the market, even getting rid of mandates, since they know it would introduce competition. Also they oppose any full blown government Health insurance such as the United Kingdom's NHS. Lets not forget that mutual aid societies/ friendly societies use to provide doctors for their members that would visit patients at home but this practice was outlawed by the American Medical Association by creating strict licensing regulations through state governments and hence eventually creating a government/private doctors cartel that controls the licensing of medical schools and doctors themselves. And for the record this is just a very brief summary of the state of United States health care. The mandates alone create all sorts of markets problems. I suggest you read the link I will provide, that talks about what Health insurance Vs. a hypothetical Hunger Insurance would teach us about American Health care. Here is the link below. http://www.fee.org/publications/the-freeman/article.asp?aid=2114
Thanks for that and to Inquisitor for the book recommendation.
I am sorry I forgot to add a very good book that can be added to "A life of Ones Own". It is called "The Cure: How Capitalism can save American Health Care" By Dr. David Gratzer. It is mainstream politically and not explicitly libertarian in it's arguments but is full of interesting information. Have fun reading and take care.