Why Public Healthcare is Bad For America

It seems that a large number of people are in favor of a universal health care plan like the one President Obama is pushing for. I’ve been asked by several people why such a thing would be bad. After all, why would anyone NOT want to make sure all Americans have health insurance, right? Well, I’m using this note to explain in as much detail as possible why universally run health care would be a catastrophe. I welcome questions and comments as they help me to clarify any points I might miss.

First off, let’s take a look at the proposal that Obama and his fellow democrats are making. They want to first create what they call a “pubic option;” that is essentially an insurance service that is run by the federal government. It is intended to be a fall back for people who can’t afford to purchase insurance from a private company. The premiums would be set quite low because the government would need no extra revenue for advertising or employee wages and tax money could be used to subsidize people to the level they can afford.

Again, this sounds good on paper, but the execution and practice is where the demons show themselves. At the core is the age old injustice of using taxpayer money for the benefit of individuals rather than the collective. Tax money used to fix a broken bridge is good because everyone has a chance to use it, but programs that are only for select individuals should not be paid for by everyone. Why do people without kids pay taxes for government run schools? Why do wealthy people pay taxes for welfare checks when the people drawing them never have to pay any of that money back? So then, in this case, why should people who save their money, shop for their own care and make sure that their families are covered be expected to front the bill for those who don’t do that? It’s grossly unfair.

This is the heart of why a universal care system is unfair. If you want to take tax money for health care, use that money to give people a voucher that they can use towards purchasing their own care instead of everyone buying into the same government plan. Now, Obama keeps stating that if you like your current coverage, you can keep it and this is only for those who are uninsured (which in most cases is the fault of the individual and not their circumstances, but more on that later). Well, again, let’s look at this in practice and the best way to do this is to look at government funded (or “public”) schools.

In this nation, you have the option to either send your kids to private school, which you pay for, or public school, which is government (and thus taxpayer) funded. So, if there is an “option” present, why are there so few private schools? The answer is simple; you have to pay for public school whether you use it or not (even if you don’t have kids!). If you send your kid to private school, you are essentially paying for it twice. Sending your child to private school doesn’t mean you get your tax money back. No matter what, someone’s child is going to school on your dime, and if you think like most money conscious parents, you figure it might as well be your child.

So now you have a system where around 90% of kids are going to the government funded schools. This, in turn, creates a monopoly. You ever wonder why monopolies are illegal in the United States? Well, it’s because a lack of competition stagnates the market. If businesses don’t have to worry about competitors, they feel no need to be innovative. This means that prices rise and quality falls. Take a look at how awful our public school system is. Is it any wonder that kids graduating high school in other nations are a lot smarter than our graduates? MOST high school graduates in America can’t tell you who is third in line for the presidency, what the three branches of government are, can’t do simple arithmetic without a calculator (if they can even do it WITH one) have deplorable grammar skills, don’t know what the civil war was fought over (hint: if you think it’s slavery, you fall into this category) and the list goes on and on.

So why are our schools so bad? It’s simple; they have no reason to improve because there are no consequences. Teachers in America have to do something pretty drastic to lose their jobs. Thanks to their union, teachers can underperform all they want and still draw a paycheck. In the business world, underperformance means that your business fails and you get fired. This is what keeps things innovative and our nation moving.

Let’s apply this now to socialized medicine. The “choice” between your current plan and a government plan is a lie because you will be paying for the government plan in some way regardless. Like the schools, the majority of Americans will move over to the government plan simply because it costs them less. When everyone is (or most people are) on the government plan, we will start to see these same problems. In this case, care will be rationed and waiting lists will be longer than you can imagine (as an example, Canada has socialized medicine right now and there are people on a waiting list for an MRI that is TWO YEARS LONG!).

Obama keeps saying that the government is going to compete, but simple logic shows the impossibility of that. It’s like a game of football where one of the teams is also acting as the referees! No matter what, things will always wind up in their favor.

This is the reason why socialized medicine is, at its core, a bad idea. However, there are many amendments to this bill that make it even worse and I’ll be happy to cover those later.