Fifty Fallacies About Health Care
By Richard E. Ralston
Continued from Page 4
47. "Medicare should be expanded to cover all Americans." Ask how Medicare can do that when it already has tens of trillions of unfunded liability for current Medicare patients and has not been able to control spending for them.
48. "Only government can control health care spending and hold costs down." Ask why, based on more than two hundred years of experience, we should think that the government can hold down the cost of anything. Ask why the government cannot do as good a job at providing affordable primary care as new walk-in clinics in retail stores. Ask why Wal-Mart and its competitors have done more to reduce the cost of generic drugs than any government program.
49. "Only the government can guarantee quality health care." Ask if the U.S. Postal Service provides better and more affordable delivery than FedEx or UPS. Ask if public schools and teacher unions guarantee better or even more affordable education for children than private and parochial schools. Ask if government-run hospitals provide better care than private commercial and non-profit hospitals.
50. "The government can require American medicine to concentrate on wellness." Ask if most government systems don't concentrate instead on rationing. Ask if a wellness approach will help those on waiting lists for months or years for medical diagnostic equipment, access to specialists or surgery.
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