The Obama administration is getting ready to unveil their plan to massively restructure the delivery of health care in this country. One of the core rationales for this plan is to extend "access" to health care services. This argument overstates the case. I would argue that there is no problem with accessing health care in this country.
If you have a medical problem, you can go to any emergency room in the country. They must, by law, treat you without reference to your ability to pay. When you go to the emergency room, a doctor will (eventually) see you about your problem. If you are bleeding on the linoleum, you will move to the head of the line, guaranteed.
The problem is not that people want access to health care, and they can't get it. We already have universal access to health care. The problem is that people want unlimited access to medical care. The question is not whether everyone should have health care in this country. The question is whether everyone should have access to as much medical treatment as they want.
If we answer that question as a yes, then it leads inevitably to another question. how do we pay for it?
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1 comment:
Chris, I am not sure you will move to the head of the line. See this report here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lKUwBCIBzAys
Ken
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