With Healthcare for All? Part II

4. There is no such thing as a Free Lunch. It is also very misleading to call government-funded healthcare "free." As already noted, government can reduce the price of a good or service with price controls but never their cost. Whenever the government plans on doing anything that involves the public treasury, it is good to remember that the treasury is supplied by the public. The government does not generate its own wealth but must levy taxes in order to pay for its expenses. This includes healthcare. In reality, free healthcare is not free but is paid for by citizens who are supposedly receiving hand-out! Initial estimates are that the healthcare bill will cost 1.6 trillion over 10 years, or $5,333 a person! This means (if the price was spread evenly)that if you pay less than $5,333 a year in medical expenses, the cost of your healthcare will actually go up. Of course the price is not spread evenly. Some will get this healthcare for nothing while others will pay very little. Yet still the healthcare is not free, those people who save money with government healthcare are only forcing their fellow citizens to pay for it. Government-funded healthcare is a misnomer. It should be called fellow citizen-funded healthcare. Of course, most will reply that it is the rich with "disposable income" who will be funding the majority of the healthcare. Yet, why is it fair that the wealthy should pay a greater percentage of their income than the poor? What evil have those wealthy who have earned their money by honest means done to society? Often the evil rich are the doctors who keep us healthy, the surgeons who save lives on the operating table, the entrepreneur who makes our lives easier by finding a more efficient way to bring us goods and services, the inventor who improves the quality of life, the scientist who cures a disease, the businessman who employs us, etc. One of America's most basic principles is the equality of all people. We violate this equality when we force on one group a greater proportion of income tax. Going back to incentives, when we tax the doctors, inventors, and businessmen too heavily, we reduce the incentive of doing their jobs. The high incomes paid to doctors compensates them for all the medical school they went through and in the same manner the businessman is compensated for climbing his way up the corporate ladder, spending less time with family and friends, and working late hours. If we tax these people and their businesses too heavily, it shouldn't suprise us if we wake up the next day to find less of them. Therefore, free healthcare is not free but comes at the expense of fellow citizens and other sectors of the economy. With a population of 300 million and price tag of $1.6 trillion, a government funded healthcare system is more weight than our economy can bear.

6. Worst, worse, better, and best. The greatest problem we have is when we make comparisons we make them as black and white. In reality, we are oftne comparing apples to oranges. While other countries are not sent into abominable poverty and poor coverage by their haelthcare systems, we must remember that this does not imply the success of the system. Healthcare and the economy may have improved, but if there was no government healthcare system, it may be improved even more. Also take into mind the very poor health of Americans. Obesity is higher in this country than in Europe. Some speculate that the growing obesity in this country is the reason why the price of healthcare is soaring. Therefore, if American's health is failing, don't always blame the healthcare companies. The best way to improve American healthcare is not with government intervention but with a more healthy lifestyle by Americans.