The Joy Of Being Satisfied

Sometimes it is just good to leave things alone and be happy with what you have. Certainly, not always. If that were so we would all still be driving Model Ts. But when something as complicated as health care is working well enough that a huge majority are well cared for and satisfied by the system that has evolved slowly in baby steps, it is best to leave well enough alone.

Was the pre-Obamacare system perfect? No. It was just about the best system in the world. Was everyone covered by health insurance? No. About ten percent of the population wasn't covered. Some of those couldn't afford insurance. Some didn't want it. Was anyone refused medical care because they lacked insurance? Very rarely. There are laws in place that require a hospital to provide care to the indigent.

So why are we going through this, out of control, exercise in futility?  Because one man, Barack Obama, felt he could cure what wasn't really sick, by the laying-on of his hands. He saw health care as too expensive and to disorderly. Also it was not one hundred percent universal. So from his position of great wisdom, he proceeded to toss the baby out with the bath water.

Let's look at disorderly first, because that is the key. The health care insurance industry was and is, made up of hundreds of providers across the country with thousands of plans, all administered by the individual states. It has evolved that way through the years primarily because it is illegal to sell health insurance across state lines. So if  you stand on the mountain top and look down on the health insurance landscape it appears to be chaos. Chaos to a big government politician spells opportunity. Take control of the chaos and your wonderful big government gets even bigger. 

A simpler solution would have been to allow the sale of healthcare insurance across state lines. Given some time, the economies generated would have let the most effective providers cover the national marketplace and the least effective would have gone away without the need for government involvement.

Healthcare was too expensive. One large force in the rise in medical prices is the cost of malpractice insurance. That particular problem is often mentioned by seldom attacked. You see, a lot of politicians are lawyers and lawyers and legal organizations are very generous in supporting political campaigns. Don't forget, most of those thousands of lobbyists that haunt the corridors of power are lawyers too. There are other causes also. Medical professionals generally make good salaries because they are highly trained and bear a lot of responsibility. So healthcare will never be cheap, but there are places where savings could be made. These areas should be encouraged by the government not controlled by it.

As far as those not covered by insurance, it would have been easier and cheaper to deal with them as a group, providing them with emergency coverage through the government, than upsetting the apple cart and throwing everything out to start from scratch.

So why would the President do that? Power. Period. He wants a one payer system, owned and operated by the government. When you have that you have taken sixteen percent of the economy away from free enterprise and presented it whole and intact to the politicians who would be our masters. Enough, enough, enough. We must go back to the joy of being satisfied because the new way is a complete disaster that may be beyond fixing.