The unknown evil: regulation
75% of Americans think government healthcare would raise costs. But in the same survey 75% of Americans believed the government needed to do something to lower healthcare costs.
Media outlets (NYT is where I picked this up) reported that Americans were "confused." They are, but its not really their fault.
The problem is that individuals dont see the huge costs and burdens regulation already puts on health care providers. The government is not the solution to the cost problem, it is the problem.
People need to realize the role govt. regulation plays in the cost of everyday items and services in their lives. They don't. Regulation is behind the scenes, it is removed from the consumer, it is the rot at the core of the tree making American industry old and infirm, but all consumers know is that they see the cost and they want a solution. So they call out to the government. And the government, because it is self-perpetuating, because it has no internal accountability, because it has no real grasp of economics and because its objective is to always shift the blame away from itself then creates more rules and regulations to "save" the consumer.
Hopefully that deep rooted feeling of unease, the gut feeling so many have that government will add cost not functionality, sways the American people on this one. Because the media is doing a piss poor job of portraying what is going on.
One final rant. The Dems backed away from the promise not to "renegotiate" drug prices under medicare. In other words, they want to be able to set the prices that medicare pays. This is ridiculous and against previous statements and agreements. It also would put the US on the path to screwing over its pharma companies, which is a bad road to go down. Personally, I am big fan of having better and innovative drugs available.
Media outlets (NYT is where I picked this up) reported that Americans were "confused." They are, but its not really their fault.
The problem is that individuals dont see the huge costs and burdens regulation already puts on health care providers. The government is not the solution to the cost problem, it is the problem.
People need to realize the role govt. regulation plays in the cost of everyday items and services in their lives. They don't. Regulation is behind the scenes, it is removed from the consumer, it is the rot at the core of the tree making American industry old and infirm, but all consumers know is that they see the cost and they want a solution. So they call out to the government. And the government, because it is self-perpetuating, because it has no internal accountability, because it has no real grasp of economics and because its objective is to always shift the blame away from itself then creates more rules and regulations to "save" the consumer.
Hopefully that deep rooted feeling of unease, the gut feeling so many have that government will add cost not functionality, sways the American people on this one. Because the media is doing a piss poor job of portraying what is going on.
One final rant. The Dems backed away from the promise not to "renegotiate" drug prices under medicare. In other words, they want to be able to set the prices that medicare pays. This is ridiculous and against previous statements and agreements. It also would put the US on the path to screwing over its pharma companies, which is a bad road to go down. Personally, I am big fan of having better and innovative drugs available.
Comments
Post a Comment