[quote=Jazzman] Under a universal system everyone contributes. If everyone abuses or over-uses, they’ll soon tire of the long lines.
Single payer solves the rising costs of infinite demand problem via rationing. What rationing is that? It is the opposite; giving greater access to care as opposed to discriminatory, selective care.
A free market system would solve that problem via competition of providers. Yes? Look where it has led.
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There’s a limited number of medical services available to everybody. Whether you decide to provide those services on the ability to pay, or waiting in line you still have a selective process in who gets the services when they want them.
The current medical system isn’t a free market. there’s plenty of anti competitive laws passed by congress to limit competition in providing medical services. Go try to open a MRI center in San Deigo and charge $500 a patient. You’ll never make it through the licensing and regulation process because those with existing MRI center lobbied to put up those barriers to entry in the name of safety. Go try to buy cheaper prescription drugs in Mexico and import them to the US.
All of these things make health care more expensive and single payer doesn’t do anything to solve those problems of higher costs here than anywhere else. Who opens a new hospital or clinic if the single payer doesn’t pay enough to keep the doors open. Do medical services providers open more facilities or less facilities under a single payer system. I see single payer pushing more providers out of the system and fewer services available to those in the single payer system. The next step will be to create government providers of services and/or forcing providers of medical services to accept single payer no matter what.
Why not focus of the problem of cost by encouraging more supply of medical services via competition. Why not force users of medical services to shop around for better prices and/or decide that some test/treatment isn’t worth it. That’s the way you address the cost problem.
