Hi everyone,
I am currently in an arguement with my girlfriend over entitlement programs, specifically socialized healthcare. I was thinking I would try and write an essay on the matter, but I was wondering if anyone knew of any good books or essays that would help me out.
Thanks in advance,
Jonathan
I was just browsing Walter Block's website and I found this article ( http://www.walterblock.com/publications/healthcare_financing.pdf ). I haven't read it but everything I've read by Dr. Block has been good.
There was also this shorter article: http://www.aapsonline.org/brochures/block.htm
Thank you so much.The PDF was very helpful. I had already been thinking about the AMA affecting the supply side of the problem, and this helped clarify my thoughts a lot. However, I do not understand what Walter Block was trying to argue about the demand side. How do insurance companies drive costs up on the demand side? And how is government responsible for encouraging this?
JEHeer6231: Thank you so much.The PDF was very helpful. I had already been thinking about the AMA affecting the supply side of the problem, and this helped clarify my thoughts a lot. However, I do not understand what Walter Block was trying to argue about the demand side. How do insurance companies drive costs up on the demand side? And how is government responsible for encouraging this?
Milton Friedman used to talk about four ways of spending money: Your own on yourself, someone else's on yourself, your own on someone else, and someone else's on somone else. The first is most efficient. All others have inherent problems.
Insurance policies, especially ones with little to no cost for additional use, can be like having someone else's money to spend on yourself. It's like going out to dinner on the company's dime, you'll still buy what you like but you're not too concerned about how much you spend. All socialized healthcare has this flaw. Some private policies have this same problem, but it's not always as prounounced and at the end of the day the insurance company loses if they mishandle policies. And who knows if we'd see much of that if the market weren't so regulated and subsidized.
Okay, that makes sense. I'm interested in what regulations and subsidize are being used by the government in the health insurance industry. Are we talking about labor laws which force companies to provide health insurance? Are these company benifits subsidized? Does this mean insurance companies have garenteed customers and therefor will make more risks? Are insurance companies forced to take on more risks than they normally would in a free market? And, does the government try to assist them when those risks go south? Or, are there government programs simply to assist insurance companies that unintentionally encourages more risk taking by the companies?
I'm doing research myself. So, don't feel compelled to do research simply for me. I'm just hoping some people might know some sources off the top of their heads.
Thanks again to the two who have already replied!
I don't know who would be able to do this, but could some one such as a moderator move this thread to the "Economics Questions" forum? I think it would be more relevant there than it is in the "General" forum.