There is currently a movement by progressives (seemingly led by Jimmy Dore) to "Force the vote" for Medicare-For-All. The idea is to force their elected officials to bring this bill up for a vote in the House. We're in the middle of a pandemic and they view this as the opportune time to pressure their representatives. They're absolutely right about this point. We've seen unthinkable actions by government who have capitalized on this opportunity to grab power this past year.
While I believe Jimmy's intentions come from a sincere desire to help those in need, further government intervention will have devastating consequences and will make everyone worse off.
One argument for M4A is that most Americans have their health insurance tied to their employment. And when they forcibly lost their jobs due to the shutdowns of "non-essential" work, it left them exposed to financial ruin. I'm sympathetic for those people and there's an argument that government owes compensation for taking their livelihood away. However, let's take a step back and figure out the root cause of these problems.
First, government should never have the ability to restrict the freedom to work for a living. It's really unbelievable that millions of Americans are OK with this. We shouldn't be in this situation in the first place.
Second, why is health insurance is tied to employment? It's because of unintended, but entirely predictable, consequences of government laws. Congress froze wages (with the passing of the 1942 Stabilization Act) in an attempt to "suppress the most obvious signs of strain on the economy" due to increased demand for labor during World War II. Therefore, employers had to attract employees with benefits not directly tied to pay. Congress also allowed insurance premiums to be deducted from the employers taxable income, while insurance purchased by individuals was not tax deductible. (see The Primal Prescription - page 24) It's important to remember this mess of a system was a result of government intervention.
Thirdly, it's clear that when government subsidizes services (or makes them "free") it substantially increases the cost. This article lays out this argument well, but this graph provides a good summary:
The highest increases are all heavily subsidized, thus making the situation worse for everyone. When hospitals & colleges know the tab will be guaranteed, they have little incentive to keep the costs low. As Peter Schiff once said: If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until it's "free"!
It's true that this says nothing of the quality of these goods/services. However, it's undeniable that TV's, cars and wireless services have all seen exceptional improvement in quality over the last 20 years. This is the beauty of free and voluntary markets.
Even if a progressive happened to agree with all of this (a stretch, I know!) they'll say that Americans need help NOW! This is a crisis, and we can't wait for new companies to emerge to provide affordable healthcare. We need the government to step in and help immediately. This is the situation we always find ourselves in. (The same can be said for college graduates who have over $100K in student loan debt.) This is why our ideas are never popular. They are all long term strategies and don't provide immediate relief.
Here's my thoughts on this:
1) We first need to stop the bleeding. We need to allow freedom to work. Allow people to earn a living. (or stop providing student loans to anyone who asks - let banks make those risky lending decisions) Yes, this will take some time but at least it won't get much worse.
2) I'm open to the idea of government compensating for the harm they've caused. I don't know how this would manifest itself, but there is a convincing argument to be made. I would especially be more supportive if we ended our forever wars and provided relief directly to Americans instead.
3) Help your fellow neighbor. Support local charities or churches who provide for the community. This fund to help businesses has over $17M already! It's just one example, but is proof that many Americans want to help those in need. It's easy to be generous with other people's money by advocating someone else pay the tab. But there is a great satisfaction in helping others yourself.
Anyways, that's my thought on this movement. While the M4A movement is (perhaps) fueled by good intentions, it can be incredibly destructive to the cost and quality of healthcare for everyone in the long run.
Feel free to let me know your thoughts. I'm no expert, but this has been on my mind.
Comments