Government and Health Care

"Some politicians say that the government can 'bring down the costs' of... health care in general. But they won't bring down the costs by one cent. What they can do is impose price controls -- and price controls have a centuries-long track record of creating worse problems than they solve."

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by Thomas Sowell | June 17, 2003

In the midst of a bipartisan stampede toward "prescription drug benefits for the elderly," someone needs to ask the question: Why should seniors be singled out to be subsidized by the taxpayers, except that their votes are being sought by both parties?

We have all heard the terrible stories about people stricken with diseases requiring costly medications that they cannot afford. If we wish to do something to help such people, fine. But let's help them based on the predicament that they are in, whether they are nineteen or ninety.

Health problems are of course more common among the elderly. But if you know it and I know it, so do others -- including insurance companies, who are in the business of selling protection against all sorts of risks. Again, if there are people who cannot afford insurance and we want to help them, then the criterion should be their economic condition, not their age.

The most affluent segment of the American population has consistently been those from middle age on up. Even if people of above-average income and wealth were unable to afford to pay for health insurance or prescription drugs, how could others afford to pay their bills for them?

Arithmetic cannot be evaded by political rhetoric. We do not have any more money collectively than the sum of what we have individually. Even if it were true that we could not afford the kind of medical care... Read more>>>>