Russell Roberts, Professor of Economics at George Mason University, and Dr. Quentin Young, of PNHP , debate the question on NPR’s “Justice Talking.”
Roberts, who also blogs at Cafe Hayek, is far more convincing in my not so humble opinion. But don’t take my word for it, go here and listen for yourself.
Megan McArdle is uneasy with the condescending attitude toward the hoi polloi that informs ”progressive” enthusiasm for health insurance mandates:
I’m persistently disturbed by the notion that most of our fellow citizens are intellectual children who need to be forced to do what is good for them even at massive cost to their liberty, and ours.
This was written in […]
The vaunted Massachusetts “universal coverage” plan has let so many patients fall through the cracks that a key Boston health care system is going broke providing care to the uninsured. The Boston Globe reports that Cambridge Health Alliance is facing a “catastrophic” loss:
The alliance … says it is being hit hard by the state’s new healthcare reform […]
¶
Posted 18 March 2008
† Catron §
‡
One way single-pay advocates kid themselves about the cost of government-mandated “universal” health care is to ascribe magical powers to EMR. Typically delusional on this point is Maggie Mahar, who advises her readers that electronic medical records “guarantee many fewer errors, and much greater efficiency.”
I have been an enthusiastic advocate of EMR implementation in every hospital with which […]
Peter Chowka has written a good piece on the “universal health care” project contemplated by Barack Obama and other Democrats. One of the article’s best passages involves the effect of incessant media crisis-mongering. Discussing a recent public opinion survey, Chowka points out the following:
Vast majorities of those sampled – including 93 per cent of Democrats – […]
Not everyone is content to rely on hope or prayer to forestall a government-imposed health insurance mandate. In Arizona, doctors Jeffrey Singer and Eric Novack are gathering signatures for statewide ballot initiative called The Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act.
The measure, which would amend the Arizona constitution if approved by the voters, would preserve consumer choice […]
¶
Posted 07 February 2008
† Catron §
‡
Respected health care analyst Jeff Goldsmith has a great post over at The Health Care Blog, in which he makes the following point about mandated universal coverage:
To simply assume that extending coverage to the 47 million uninsured somehow assures access and, therefore, better health, requires multiple leaps of faith. There are many physical, cultural and […]
A variety of “progressive” health care analysts are still deluding themselves about the future of “universal” health care. Ezra Klein, as I wrote last week, is as clueless as ever on this point, and Maggie Mahar’s most recent post makes it clear that she is still out in fantasyland:
Perhaps we are entering a new era, where we […]
Health care, like all finite commodities, must be rationed. The only real choice involves the mechanism by which that rationing is carried out. It can be based on market forces or it can be based on the whims of some priviledged elite. An article in yesterday’s Telegraph suggests that the former might be more compassionate than the latter:
Smokers, heavy drinkers, […]
Cheap, government-subsidized health insurance is popular. Who woulda thunk it? Apparently not the geniuses who govern the state of Massachusetts. The Boston Globe reports the following:
Spending on the state’s landmark health insurance initiative would rise by more than $400 million next year … The biggest driver of the cost increase is projected growth in the number […]
