Definitely an Argument Worth Making: Why ‘Profit’ in Healthcare Should Not Be a Dirty Word
Richard Ralston at Capitalism Magazine wrote a “Read the Whole Thing” piece a couple of weeks ago on the topic, and made a great backhanded point towards the end:
But who would replace these greedy businessmen in providing our health care? Evidently there is a class of higher beings who are not only morally superior but vastly more competent administrators. This group includes such role models as politicians, many civil servants, university faculty members, selected journalists and, of course, the heads of public employee service unions. Their profit is political power over our lives. Thomas Jefferson addressed this group in his first inaugural address: “Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer the question.”
If the baseless assertions about government health care were actually true, why not nationalize all major sectors of the economy so they will also be run like government agencies? How can anyone who looks at the government today—or who noticed the 20th Century as it was going by—claim that government is more efficient than private enterprise? Or that the government has proven its ability to control the cost of anything?
It is precisely because health care is so vitally important to all of us that we must fight to defend profit, individual rights and personal choice as the only proper basis for health care in America.
Yes, there have been abuses in the for-profit sector, but you know what else? There have been responses too. When consumers were fed up with HMO second-guessing, the HMOs backed off. When executives have overdone it with the comp and perks, they have, more often than not, been tried and jailed or fined. Who really thinks that a government bureaucracy would be more responsive than a for-profit enterprise? If you do, you haven’t looked at Great Britain’s NHS recently.
