Useful Fools

The Wall Street Journal editorial page, a bastion of conservativism, published an article by Democrat John Breaux advocating major changes to make Health Insurance more available. The recommendations pretty much follow those described on this blog last November.

Now Anne Wilson has a post on her blog that eloquently describes the impact of the problem… but misses any reasonable solution. This is addressed in the extended discussion reached by the link below.

Her blog is certainly a refreshing addition to conservative commentary. Her observation on media treatment of Scott Ritter’s sexual escapades is right on the mark!

For more on health insurance, click the following link…

Anne Wilson’s approach is to simply abolish health insurance, and rely on savings. Unfortunately, this will never work. Insurance exists in order to socialize (oohhh - a dirty word) risk - that is, to allow people to protect themselves against unpredictable events by paying in advance for their share of the risk.

Anne’s “cure” is impractical and anti-capitalist. Why should anybody work and earn and acquire assets that are likely to be taken away at the first major illness of old age? Capitalism works by addressing risks, not ignoring them.

Her assertion that prices will come down to reasonable levels is unsupportable. A major part of the high cost is simply real, inelastic demand. People will certainly shop around for ordinary care, which will reduce some costs, but for lifesaving care they will spend the money if they must!

But the good news is that conservatives are starting to advance beyond the (usually correct) “market will solve the problem” mantra, and seriously examine this difficult issue for the first time.