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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 he is by no means alone.
Like all cases of self-delusion, those of Klein and his fellow “progressives” require that they ignore mountains of contrary evidence. They have refused, for example, to absorb the obvious lessons of the SCHIP debate and the demise of Oregon’s ”Healthy Kids” initiative.
They will no doubt continue this pattern of denial and ignore the death of Arnoldcare. As reported in the WSJ, California’s Democrat-controlled legislature finally did the humane thing for this writhing, moribund beast:
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “universal” health-care plan died in the California legislature on Monday, in what can only be called a mercy killing.
Anyone not impervious to objective data will notice that the death of Arnoldcare, “Healthy Kids,” and SCHIP have one item in common. They occurred in legislative environments controlled by DEMOCRATS:
The California legislature is probably the most liberal this side of Vermont, and even Democrats refused to become shock troops for this latest liberal experiment.
Why? Because they can’t pay for it.
Like collapses in Illinois, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, this one crumpled because of the costs, which are always much higher than anticipated.
No matter how much BS is piled up by the advocates of universal health care, the goals of unlimited access and low cost are mutually exclusive. You can have one or the other, but you can’t have both:
You can’t make coverage “universal” while at the same time keeping costs in check — at least without prohibitive tax increases.
This is the rock on which Oregon’s plan wrecked, and why Nancy Pelosi and her accomplices had to promote a tobacco tax scheme that would have created the need for new smokers.
So, what does this mean for the fantasies of Klein and others of his persuasion? It means that, even if the voters are foolish enough to put Hillary in the White House this November, no radical overhaul of U.S. health care will ensue.
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+ May 2007
February 4th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
There is an E-Mail currently being sent all over the country that tells us that some Canadian came across the border to the US to get brain surgery because he was diagnosed with cancer and could not get the attention in his country for four months.
This E-Mail tells us that this man was treated in the US and the total cost for this brain surgery was $28,000.00
Where the hell can you get brain surgery for $28,000 in the US?
This whole story sounds fishy to me. An operation such as this is estimated to cost $150,000.00 to $200,000.00. Recent news on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.
I spent $38,000.00 a year ago at St. Luke’s Hospital in Houston, Texas. Four days of tests…. that were “inconclusive”. I am still unable to digest my food properly.
A BOOB JOB, IN THE US COSTS $5,000.00.
My young neighbor just paid $9,500.00 for a normal delivery of her child.
Anyone reading stupid stuff like this needs to think about what is being said and why.
I suspect this is just more
American Medical Association propaganda.
The AMA is responsible for stuff like this.
A bout a year ago there was news coming out about some man from Canada that came to Arizona for medical treatment. Later it was found that the whole thing was bogus. Be alert.
Don’t let yourself be bamboozled.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:56 am
Adele Roberson –
Please make sure that it is not you doing the bamboozling.
The story is true. The cost of the surgery was indeed $28,000. It was arranged (as the video “A Short Course in Brain Surgery” explains) by Canadian medical broker Rick Baker of Timely Medical Alternatives – a company that specializes in negotiating low rates on surgical procedures in the United States for Canadians on long waiting lists.
Perhaps, if you had watched the video and had been curious enough to look up Timely Medical Alternatives on the internet, you might have figured this out.
By the way – we’ve never received a check from the AMA or any other organization with a financial interest in this debate. If you had read the disclaimer to that effect here on freemarketcure.com, you might have figured that out also.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
As long as any “Universal System” tries to use mandates for private companies, it will cost more. No other country spends more than we do on healthcare, and they do insure everyone. True, not for profit healthcare, is the only way to go, it’s a no-brainer!