CDR: Re: why should it be trusted?

Ray Dillinger bear at sonic.net
Mon Oct 23 10:53:11 PDT 2000



On Sun, 22 Oct 2000, Nathan Saper wrote:

>Yes, it does.  And I think we as Americans, as well as our government,
>should do everything in our power to help.  However, the first concern
>of any government is its own population.

No, the first concern of any and every government is its own 
survival.  This is true whether or not it is achieved by allowing 
individual citizens to survive. Caucescu (sp?) and Duvalier the 
Elder were willing to execute half their respective populations 
to stay in power, remember?  Extreme examples, but....

*sigh.*  This is probably the last time I'm going to respond in 
this thread -- its clear that our opinions are too different, and 
held too firmly on both sides, for a useful discourse to emerge.

However, I'm going to just mention something here.  It is not 
terribly unreasonable to expect health care to be paid for by 
someone other than the recipient of said care, even in a free 
society.  But in a free society, you don't do it by forcing 
hospitals to treat people they aren't getting paid to treat, 
and you don't do it by forcing insurers to insure any group of 
people at rates that won't cover the cost of treatment for that 
group.  Those methods are an "unconstitutional taking" -- which 
is what you call theft when the government does it.

In a free society, if you intend to have the government pay for 
health care, it pretty much has to be paying for *everybody's* 
health care, and it has to be doing it out of taxes rather than 
by forcing hospitals or insurance companies to engage in an 
unprofitable business practices. Picking on hospitals or insurance 
companies is robbing the few to pay for the needs of the many; 
the many may like it, but it's a very fundamental infringement. 
Taxation, on the other hand, is robbing the many to pay for the 
needs of the many -- inefficient and compulsory, but at least 
it operates without picking on particular people.

Now, I've used the words, "free society" above.  However, every 
coin paid in taxes is an erosion of freedom, and we have to 
recognize that.  When taxation reaches 90%, the people are serfs 
and nothing more, even if technically free.  However, I'd support 
government health care, even with the attendent taxation, if it 
were required to prevent a scheme like the one you propose.  If 
it could be shown that it resulted in the whole population being 
substantially healthier for longer, at a lower cost, I'd support 
it anyway -- to paraphrase Mao, I don't care whether the cat is 
white or black, as long as it catches mice (not that I think it 
would, by the way). 

But, we have to recognize that even if it did result in better 
cheaper health care in the short run, it would mean changes 
detrimental to health care in the long run.  For the last 20 years 
or so, theUS with its private health care system has also been the 
country that has fueled almost all research into new drugs and 
treatment techniques.  Basically, everybody who's developed anything 
has done so because they have their eye on the lucrative American 
market for health care.  Sure, you have to get past the FDA -- 
but it still happens.  If we shifted to government-operated health 
care, the US market wouldn't be a moneymaker anymore, and you'd 
see a lot less private R&D. 

Finally, as much as we like talking about what *should* happen 
or *should not* happen, reality is about what *will* happen, 
which has only an incidental relationship to either.  What *will* 
happen, nobody knows for sure.  If Crypto Anarchy becomes the 
norm, then government involvement in medicine, like government 
involvement in almost everything, is on the way out and we are 
left to be prepared and deal with it.  The alternative is 
pretty horrible to contemplate, because the only way to 
*prevent* Crypto Anarchy from becoming the norm is probably 
with an invasive and totalitarian worldwide police state. And 
of course, that could also happen. 

				Bear










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