Thinking devoted to the task of survival is a different task than thinking as a way to create happiness. At times it makes sense to emphasize thinking for survival. Without survival happiness is not a possibility. Without surviving somewhat above the subsistence level happiness is not very likely. Continue reading
There are three socialist armies currently vying for power. These are:
1.Non-Democratic Socialists Non-democratic socialism is my term. You won’t find it anywhere else. I use it because fascism is seldom used to describe an economic system even though that is what it is. Like the other two, non-democratic socialism is a system of economics by force. Continue reading
The Affordable Health Care Act is a skimming operation similar in structure to what the mob used to profit from docks, bakery, unions and building industries during the 70s. Crime has no downside to criminals who learn to legalize activities through control of government.
Having government pay for healthcare is not complicated. Americans insist that government pay for health care. Like all economics issues. the optimum way to pay for healthcare in a system where all parties reject the free market concept, can be explained in a sentence or two.
Do not mistake Medicare for healthcare. It is not. It is insurance. Medicare is insurance for all. Insurance for all reduces physicians incentives to care for patients. With insurance for all, your doctor has more of a rent seeking incentive than anything else. Continue reading
Both the Affordable Care Act and the Republican alternative that just failed are fascist model healthcare systems. In a fascist healthcare model lobbyists write the bill, lawmakers who they pay to support the bill, convince the public that it is a good deal. Congress and presidents are used as a means for the lobbyists clients to exempt themselves from free market forces,and raise profits to a higher level than they would be with free market restraints. The public which is a victim of this kind of bill remains bound by free market incentives and pays astronomical prices for healthcare and drugs.
Certain provisions of this type of bill appear appealing to the public but are traps with no escape hatches. I understand there is a movement among Republicans to included more tort reform. Tort reform sounds good to the public because people picture doctors lowering prices because their legal costs are lower. There is no chance such a thing could happen. Doctors have no incentive lower prices but do appreciate the lower costs and increased income. Prices to the public continue to rise. Inclusion of tort reform in the Republican bill is reason enough alone to say no to the legislation. As a rule of thumb, never relinquish a right in expectation of receiving a benefit. Citizens who support tort reform are surrendering many of their rights to engage in civil litigation when they are harmed in the health care system.
When attorneys could freely sue doctors on behalf of clients, this provided a type free market regulation of the entire health care system. Giving up rights in civil court has been a mistake in every state where it has taken place.
Chances are that a fascist model healthcare bill of of some kind will be passed in the near future. Be warned, there is nothing free market about any of these bills. Expect goodwill in healthcare to continue diminishing. Goodwill does not occur magically from the kind nature of the human species. Goodwill evolves in free markets because vendors are highly motivated to please their customers.
Socialized medicine or single payer healthcare will also be proposed. Single payer is of course a regular socialist model. In a single payer system Doctors lose the incentive to treat patients because more patients does not translate into higher income. Healthcare costs could come down in theory but would not because there is no incentive to economize. Healthcare would be less available because providers would try to maximize their income and treat as few patients as possible in doing so. Socialized medicine would also cause further reductions in the level of good will. Goodwill alway disappears when free markets are dismantled. It makes since because free markets are the devices that create good will in the first place.
While healthcare in the U.S. is being taken further out of the free market realm, free market influences never disappear. In the short run patients will take the punishment and just pay up. Over time, alternatives will emerge. Overseas doctors will start offering Americans thorough Skype consultations. Medical vacations will become more common. Doctors in Mexico may start cash practices close to the border to serve American patients. Many Texans already go to Mexican doctors. Healthcare is all products and services. Like any industries substitutes will emerge. The notion that the United States has the best doctors in the world is nothing but rubbish.
In the meantime, given that Americans don’t trust free market medicine, Healthcare will continue to worsen.
The American People are extremely stupid. They still believe The Affordable Care Act is about healthcare.
Who wrote the Affordable Care Act? Was it Obama? Was it a group of citizens? How about bunch of lawmakers? No one knows exactly who wrote the bill. We do know that citizens and their representatives had nothing to do with it. The bill was written by lobbyists who wanted to create a feeding frenzy for their clients. To be specific, organized crime hired the lobbyists and they bought the cooperation of both Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
How is this possible? It takes a huge level of stupidity on the part of the general population. The public still believes Obamacare has something to do with healthcare. It doesn’t. It is a bill requiring the purchase of insurance. Obamacare provides ways for the mob to extract for themselves a portion of every dollar spent on healthcare. It also makes certain that everyone pays, rich and poor. Senators and congressmen are in a pickle because the mob has purchased their allegiance. These kinds of deals are hard to back away from.
The difficulty in replacing this bill is that all it really amounts to is theft. How do you replace a bill that thieves wrote with another bill where the same amount can be stolen and make it easier on the victims at the same time? I am not sure it can be done.
The only reason to replace Obamacare is to avoid confrontations with organized crime, which pretty much owns government. The country is better off without any law of this kind. It could take Americans years to figure out that that Obamacare has nothing to do with healthcare.
Most Americans either don’t know the difference between healthcare and health insurance or they are too mentally lazy to make the distinction. A population this ignorant is not going to get a good deal because they are so easy to exploit the temptation smart people have to take advantage of their ignorance is just too great.
Merriam Webster provides this definition for healthcare.
“efforts made to maintain or restore health especially by trained and licensed professionals”
Merriam Webester defines health insurance this way, “insurance against loss through illness of the insured; especially : insurance providing compensation for medical expenses”
A bill like the Affordable Care Act does not expand healthcare. It expands health insurance coverage. It does that by forcing consumers to buy what they might not buy otherwise.
Ask a room full of doctors why they practice medicine and you will get some of the most selfless, noble reasons the brain can some up with. But, what do we know about doctors? They are human beings and like everyone else, nature provides them with one basic incentive, self interest. Whatever reasons are given, just know that doctors will try to make as much money as they can in the shortest period of time.
In a system of free market medicine, goodwill is optimized. Don’t count on that because as soon as another system, replaces the free market, goodwill starts to disappear rapidly. Healthcare was far from perfect before Obamacare became law. Costs are now skyrocketing and good care, for the most part is unavailable now that the law is in effect.
To the degree that government is involved in healthcare, there will always be less that costs more. Repealing Obamacare is a great move, but replacing it is worse than leaving it the way it is. Republicans cannot replace Obamacare with anything better. Repealing Obamacare and then walking away is a better choice.
Just Another Day at the Whorehouse by Curbside Jimmy by curbside Jimmy