I don’t think health care is a right.
However, basic survival-oriented and educational public goods are a practical necessity in non-poor countries.
To that extent, it is a government responsibility.
I also think that increasing the efficiency of the distribution of public goods is a responsibility.
Right now we have universal health care.
Anybody showing up at an ER in the US gets treated regardless of income.
That is universal, often publicly subsidized, and very inefficient.
People in this country can’t really starve either.
The only people who starve here are people who have some true disability (like mental illness) or actually desire to starve (like supermodels).
We just make it uncomfortable to live on the dole (fill out these 6 forms then stand in a line for a an hour and then you get 2 loaves of bread and a brick of cheese).
Just as there is no real option for letting poor people starve, there is no real option for letting injured and sick people die for lack of cash.
Therefore, this is really about the following issues:
-how to minimize outlays from government and institutions currently providing that inefficient health care (thus improving the bottom line of hospitals, government entities, and other payers)
-about how to minimize personal bankruptcies (or just general financial burden) associated with insufficient coverage (thus improving global consumer effective demand)
-giving US companies a comparative advantage over their foreign competitors who enjoy more efficient and/or subsidized healthcare (part, though only part, of the reason our companies are currently seeing waning competitiveness)
Also, to Allan’s concern about authoritarianism in the form of required insurance:
1: How is representative democratic legislation “authoritarian”?
2: How is this different from being required to pay unemployment insurance (or having that as an employer-cost associated with you) or paying retirement insurance (social security)?
The purpose of any government is the welfare of its people and right now the inefficiencies in US healthcare have created a self-reinforcing economic burden upon the country. I think that, as a fix, this is an acceptable option.
