Interested in fixing the bloated and arcane American medical system?
Learn where things went haywire fundamentally and how we can restore integrity, efficiency, and good value to a vital industry our very lives depend upon….
Our healthcare system is a complete mess because natural price discovery between patient and doctor has been severely undermined over time. Third parties vendors including insurance companies, drug companies and other rent-seeking interests have usurped the normal language of price between buyer and seller for their own gain. Government has abandoned its proper role as an honest referee for all citizens to become a player in league with rent-seekers. This has allowed regulatory capture, where the rules are written to favor the rent seekers and their government allies to the detriment of everyone else.
Natural price signals are necessary to coordinate supply and demand to flow the most efficient ways possible. Prices represent true “democracy” and “people power.” They are the language each of us uses to “vote” for the products and services we want. When these signals are hijacked by outside interests, the economy falters and eventually fails. Misery reigns.
Centrally planned economies never work. They always deliver far less than what we would have had otherwise. They always enrich the few at the expense of the many. The American medical system is much larger than the economies of most other countries. Economies are extremely complex, organic systems—delicate latticework with countless layers balanced and rebalanced by the decisions of hundreds of millions of consumers each day. An economy behaves more like a beautiful coral reef teeming with rich, vibrant complexity than some stark grey factory churning out a basic product like pig iron. Neither a complex coral reef nor a complex human economy can be centrally planned or commanded by a panel of meddling overseers using megaphones, guns, and paddy-wagons. This is an experiment that has been tried often and utterly fails every single time.
The lives, property and decisions of consumers and producers cannot be “owned” by anybody but the consumers and producers themselves. Those who attempt to do so, violate the inalienable rights we each have to run our own lives, trade our own property and time and associate with those to whom we choose. These rights are not “privileges” to be given or taken away by others. Rights are inseparable from us as human beings. Not even “majority rule” can separate rights from others. My “rights” end where yours begin.
We live in a modern society struggling to become freer in fits and starts. We are not serfs or slaves. Thanks to the Gutenberg Press of old and the Internet of new, we have unprecedented access to all the information we need to make our own informed decisions. We do not need kings, overlords, bureaucrats, czars or masters limiting our access to information or goods and services and running our lives for us—although they keep screaming at us that we do. We now trade in a world of Ebay, Uber, and Amazon. The world is undergoing a massive decentralization tsunami that is greatly empowering consumers, cutting out the middlemen, and reducing the need for bureaucracies and governments. You can Skype or share files instantly with anyone around the world. With a keystroke click you can order anything from anywhere in the world and have it delivered to your doorstep in a matter of days. We have apps on our cellphones that provide instant information on the things that interest us. We no longer need 19th century style government postal service monopolies to deliver such information to us in the form of metered mail. It is just as archaic and stupid to believe that healthcare must be delivered by some similar “top down” fashion. Quite frankly, this is a 1930s approach to economic problem solving that didn’t even work in the 1930s.
Medicine is no different from any other good or service. It must follow the same laws of supply and demand. Whenever we make a purchase, we “vote” with our cash. When we fear that an unforeseen event might cause catastrophic economic loss, we purchase insurance to gain peace of mind. When we are down on our luck we ask others for charity. And because we are our “brother’s keepers,” when we are blessed with the extra money to give, we freely give charity to those in need. We can only be charitable when we give our own money to an orphanage. We become uncharitable thieves when we commission Al Capone to steal from others to give to the same orphanage. Know the difference!
The entire root error to our healthcare mess can be summed up in only four words:
“No natural price discovery.”
But the mess can also be fixed in just three words:
“Cash, Catastrophic, Charity.”
Publisher : Alethos Press; 1st edition (July 11, 2016)
Language : English
Perfect Paperback : 64 pages
ISBN-10 : 0984955224
ISBN-13 : 978-0984955220
Item Weight : 1.92 ounces
AVAILABLE THROUGH the AAPS (Association of American Physicians and Surgeons): Common Sense Medicine: Restoring the Patient/Physician Relationship – AAPS | Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (aapsonline.org)
AVAILABLE AT AMAZON: Common Sense Medicine: Restoring the Patient/Physician Relationship – Kindle edition by Danby, Jeff, Racer, Dave. Professional & Technical Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
Jeff Danby 