Re:Dean Kamen: Healthcare Debate "Backward Looking"
by gnaritas on Friday August 07, 2009 @07:57PM
(#748764)
He didn't say make everything free, and healthcare isn't like any other commodity. The world is not so black and white.
Re:Dean Kamen: Healthcare Debate "Backward Looking"
by reedlaw on Friday August 07, 2009 @10:14PM
(#748872)
Why is health care so special then? Shouldn't food and water be just as free? Aren't they even more basic necessities?
Re:Dean Kamen: Healthcare Debate "Backward Looking"
by gnaritas on Saturday August 08, 2009 @02:21AM
(#749044)
Because food is predictable, available, and cheap. Healthcare is unpredictable; you don't know when you'll need it and you hope you never do, but if you do, it could completely bankrupt you and since your life could be on the line you'll do anything to get it.
Also unlike food, since we have a massive insurance industry involved to spread the risk of unpredictable and often massive expenses, we've actually created a system that incentivises people to hurt other people by denying claims. Not everyone believes the invisible hand of the market is the correct solution to every problem; I'm all for socialized healthcare.
"How is it that someone can argue in favor of people not having free groceries? Would you also argue that people shouldn't have access to computers unless they pay the computer tax? Entertainment? The protection of free homes?"
The problem with making everything free is that you create a system where no one wants to work, corrupt officials take more than their fair share, and scarcity becomes the norm.