‘Medicare for All’ by the late Brian R. Riedl (1961—2017) who was a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute is very likely the best exposition of the extreme gluttonous result if Medicare for All is ever implemented. Not only would it be bankruptcy for the United States, it would also destroy the finest health care found anywhere in the world.
As the UK is celebrating 70 years of their National Health Service with some very catastrophic results; as the Swedish are beginning to privatize their total Socialistic health care system as they now allow private hospitals, this confirms that basic logic is not understood. (If A=B and B=C, then unequivocally A must equal D.) The former Editor of Sacramento Medicine stated in open editorial session that the only reason socialized medicine has so many problems is that they allow too much freedom. So in addition to not understanding basic sophomore logic, Socialists do not understand Freedom. They, like the Communists, Fascists and Democratic Socialists do not trust private individuals and think the best minds will float to the top and thus can govern better, or more efficiently. However, neither of these have been born out.
It appears that some friends and neighbors have become enamored with Bernie Sanders just like the immature college youth of yesterday, most of whom have matured after graduation. It’s a common saying among the elders in my family that “it is amazing how much our college graduates have learned after graduation and during their first employment.”
Bernie Sanders gave up on his webpage proposal since he couldn’t fathom balancing the cost with the available money. His proposal to reduce provider payments (Doctors and Hospitals) by 40 percent indicates extreme naivetè since many doctors have quit practice on the current Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. To state that they will save money by replacing doctors with nurse practitioners confirms a severe lack of experience in health care. Even with the socialistic Medicare and Medicare program, I had an acute appendicitis patient which took three days to obtain approval for surgical appendectomy. There was no understanding in the HMO physician oversite for the life-threatening lack of appropriate treatment. There is no escape valve in our American socialistic system. Both the US and Canada has severe penalties or high costs for bypassing our socialistic system.
I was on a train from London to Scotland and found myself sitting next to an Accountant. On asking his opinion of the NHS, he stated that he used it for non-serious routine care. But he also had a private insurance policy in case of an emergency so he wouldn’t die waiting for treatment. Our Canadian friends are not allowed to have private insurance. They may be more restrictive than Communist dictators with absolute control.
Medicare for all is not only extremely gluttonous, it is extremely confining since it limits freedom on which basis this country was founded.
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Medical Gluttony thrives in Government and Health Insurance Programs.
It Disappears only with Appropriate Deductibles and Co-payments on Every Service in Private Insurance Plans.
Watch for the introduction of such a plan in our companion newsletter as it is brought current.