re: #570 Renaissance_Man

Nobody’s talking about a command economy. We’re talking about public health insurance, not a system where faceless men in black dispense medications. Such a system does not exist except in the fever dreams of people who read too many talking points before bed.

Your vision of a giant monolithic Department of Doctors does not exist. The British NHS is probably the closest, and that is by no means a monopolistic organisation. The other nations that provide universal health care do so in a blend of public and private health insurance, that complement each other. The ‘government’ does not provide the health care. They provide a system of compensation that allows virtually all citizens to be seen for medical problems, which do not discriminate based on income. In this way, health care is a problem of infrastructure, just as roads and electricity are. And just like those other infrastructures, private markets and industries do it worse.

There never has been a system where faceless men in black dispense medication, not even in the Soviet Union or Cuba. I never said there was. I said that the US did a better job of providing for its people than command economies do. When it comes to goods and services, market economies, balanced by limited government regulation, do a better job.

I don’t hold that health care is an infrastructure. It’s a service. If you were paying attention, a while back they ran a story on the cafeterias in the House and Senate. One had been privatized. One had not. The public one provided poor food and ran in the red. The private was, apparently, a lot better. (I’ve never been to DC, so I can’t tell you personally.)

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