Becoming more and more interested by what's going on in Mexico, specifically Juarez. Should we change our drug laws to help Mexico not fall completely apart?
Just think, a lot of the problems actually do stem from simple marijuana...odd.
Fun times hard to find in Mexico
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So you want to make it legal to purchase marijuana, but make it illegal to purchase health care?
Well, pretty much - I mean you could easily buy additional health care if you wanted to. But you know - it's kind of like if it was marijuana they would actually give us some.
Instead of sending us to the pushers.
Under single payer:
1. Government will fix prices on the services it deems everyone should have.
2. At the fixed price, there will be an excess of demand.
3. Doctors/clinics/hospitals will have an incentive to exit the system and charge the market-clearing price.
That much is Microeconomics 101 and I feel about as certain about its coming true as any prediction I'd care to make.
So given 1-3, for one to claim that "you could easily buy additional health care" under single payer, one would have to believe that government will either (1) allow doctors to exit the system, or (2) that it will allow people who pay the market-clearing price for service to receive treatment while there is unmet demand at the fixed price (that is, doctors work 'extra' to serve those who pay, but they do this even as unserved patients wait within the system).
(1) makes the system fall apart immediately, which the politicians who just implemented it surely will not tolerate. (2) will lead to public outrage against the 'profiteering' doctors, and I imagine politicians will respond accordingly.
So what is your solution then Mr. Economist? Isn't our current system of HMOs & PPOs a variant of single payer? Instead of monopoly we have oligopoly, and since the oligopolists want to maximise profits, they find ways of not paying for your care through loopholes such as pre-existing conditions, coverage maximums and outright refusing procedures because they are "elective", "experimental" or some other cop out.
These oligopolists also create the fixed price you mentioned - when I tried to get a dentist appointment a few years back (while on HMO) the next available was TWO MONTHS LATER!
The UK has the public/private system going, and the public one hasn't collapsed (yet). I think our issue is we haven't decided what we want out of the system yet. Then we can figure out how to get it in the most efficient way.
They did talk about the drug war in Mexico on 60 minutes last night - the one guy said it was a sign that the drug lords were on their way down and this showed their desperation. Scary stuff.
Instead of monopoly
Monopsony. A single buyer, not a single provider.
I don't see why health care is a particularly special industry. People who run into tough situations can call on their friends or generous doctors to help them out, rather than forcing strangers (taxpayers and doctors) to help them out. I don't see why we are so sure that system is worse than the one we have now or the one we'd have under single payer.
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