As we look around we find more and more failings of government. It seems a human condition. The larger the organization the more goes wrong, and when there is no accountability, even more goes wrong. Our government seems to have outgrown its usefulness yet attempts to make us believe we just need one more public enterprise or bureaucracy and all our problems will be solved.
And that public enterprise being sought now in a nationalized health service. Go here… and here…
Sanigest's (the consultants) panacea (plan) implies that healthcare consumers out of pocket costs will decrease "dramatically", and the government will save $85.2 million annually and more, while a "plurality market" (public and private providers), with the solution being "as inclusive as possible…" creating "a win-win-win situation for everybody" will materialize right before our very eyes.
So the central question is how on earth can the government "take on more risk" and serve more people with more goods and services and this great plan not cost somebody more?
I want to live forever too, but not at the expense and bankruptcy of those we leave behind.
But the political elixir that this is possible seems just too good to pass up for so many.
This essay, A Healthcare Uptopia…The Impossible Dream (pdf), from 2003 might be useful if you're interested in the health care debate.
But not only do we have the government proposing new ways to expand their bureaucracy, we have well intentioned people calling on them to come up with a national plan to solve all our problems, worries and fears.
We all live under the weight of a public educational system that is not working, a crime problem that seems uncontrollable, a system where most public services allegedly require a bribe to obtain the service in a reasonable time frame. We're told this is necessary to get your passport renewed, your water or electricity turned on. You name the public service the complaints seem the same.
So they can't plan their operations and now we want them to plan ours?
If you're interested in finding out more on why government can't manage society read Dr. Richard Ebeling's two part series at the links below.
F. A. Hayek and Why Government Can't Manage Society, Part I…
and
F. A. Hayek and Why Government Can’t Manage Society, Part II…
I can't understand for the life of me why we bemoan government services every day, yet want to make their job even more all encompassing.
Does the elixir taste good?
