What can Thomas Jefferson and Ronald Reagan teach us about how to deal with spiraling health care costs and millions of people having to go without health insurance coverage? A great deal actually if we will heed their wisdom on the proper role of government. Jefferson said “the natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.” Nearly two centuries later, Reagan said “government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.” Nowhere is the wisdom of these two men more relevant than on health care.
People complain continually about rising health care costs and with justification. A recent study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers predicts health care costs will increase nearly 10 percent by the end of this year, despite billions being spent by the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and its 1,000+ rate-setting employees working to keep costs down. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernake recently warned Congress that government spending on health care programs will continue to “rise relentlessly” if the system isn’t reformed. That’s the connection – the more government spends on health care, the more it costs to get health care. In response – just as Jefferson predicted – government hires more bureaucrats to issue more red tape “to control costs.” Thus, rising health care costs come from government, not doctors, hospitals or insurance companies. Politics drives health care costs, not the free market.
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Remember those $600 toilet seats the Pentagon bought some years ago? How about the $1,825 hospital beds bought by federal health care bureaucrats? The Washington Post reported last month that Joe Blow could buy the same bed on the open market for $754. Or how about the $7,215 the government pays to rent oxygen equipment for three years that can be bought outright on the open market for $587? The price difference is what happens when medical equipment is bought on a non-competitive government fee schedule set by bureaucrats and subject to the political whims of congressmen. Thus, it’s no coincidence that the American Association for Home Care (AAHC) has contributed more than $138,000 to congressmen since 2002, according to the Post. When special interests like AAHC speak, Congress listens. That’s why a tiny pilot program to allow the government to accept competitive bidding for medical equipment in 10 cities is being delayed. Don’t be surprised if next year Congress decides to end the pilot program entirely. Like Reagan said …
