Southern Bread Blog

When the demand for a resource outpaces the supply, there is only one logical result: rationing. With that being said, it’s important to understand that the question of healthcare boils down to who is in charge of that rationing. The individual in conjuction with their doctor and health insurance provider, or the state? The way it works now is that the market price suppresses over-use. There is a reason that family coverage costs $1000 per month. The reason is that there is more and more demand being placed on a fairly constant supply. And basic economics tells us that any time supply stays the same, while demand goes up, the price will adjust upward. This is how the free market price mechanism naturally rations it’s own resources. Obama wants us to believe this is a bad thing:

Forgetting for a moment the effect that massive government regulation and mandates have had on healthcare premiums, the scenario that Obama is painting in that quote is one where the market completely ignores sound pricing. That’s not possible. At some point there will reach an equilibrium where the price levels out. That price level will be one where it’s too expensive to just use the system willy nilly and go to the doctor for every sniffle, yet it’s still there for catastrophic situations. The health insurance market is naturally pricing the abusers out of the system. It’s unfortunate that this is the case, but it’s reality. And it’s economic law. Trying to tamper with this scenario is how you end up with the other kind of rationing. State mandated.

I mentioned yesterday that the so called “government option” that’s being proposed will absolutely destroy the private insurance market. When that happens, and everyone is universally covered for “free”, that natural market directed rationing will disappear. Supply will be swamped by demand as the abusers – those who go to the doctor ten times a year for every little sniffle and pain – flood back into the system. Again, what’s the only logical result? Rationing. This time by state mandate. And it’s going to come, first, in the form of an advisory panel that creates a set of guidelines on who gets what care, and secondly, by simply having huge waiting lists for routine procedures like has been happening in Canada and the U.K. for years now. If the idea of a buearacratic health advisory panel that gets to determine who gets what care doesn’t scare the hell out of you (pardon my french), then you are clueless.

This panel that will get to decide each of our fates individually is called the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparitive Effectiveness Research, and it was created by the first stimulus package legislation to pave the way for government single-payer insurance. This isn’t tin foil hat folks. It’s real. The British version of this is called NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence), and it pretty much decides who gets to live and who dies in critical health situations. Remember the Democrat’s outrage back in the 90’s over HMO’s denying care to certain people based on cold calculations of age vs. price? Well, they seem to be just fine with it now since they get to be in charge. It’s the same type thing but worse, since now, it’s not just an economics decision. It’s political.

Want to see what this looks like straight from the horses mouth? Here’s a clip of Obama talking to a lady who’s mother had been saved from death by a pacemaker after many doctors told here she was too old to survive the operation. They finally found one willing to do it and she’s been alive for five years. The lady simply asked Obama if her mother would have been afforded the same opportunity under the government plan:

And yet for some reason the stupid, idiotic, selfish AARP and AMA are supporting Obama’s plan. They have always been willing to screw future generations just to glean a little off the top for themselves, but this one takes the cake. Note to the AARP: “After an initial settle in period, your members will be sent to the back of the line for all waiting lists for medical care you idiots.” Note to the AMA: “If you think that by backing this bill that you’ll somehow not get your medicare payments reduced then wake up morons. There won’t be any medicare in a few years if this all happens and you’re gonna be even more screwed than you ever dreamed of.” Please people. Wake up. Healthcare is not going to get any better than it is right now. Any change is just going to make things worse. And with this plan, much, much worse.