Good evening again, Dave!
I just got home after a rather grueling round trip to Moscow, Idaho and back, and it is now 11:45 p.m. Upon returning, and checking my answering machine, my cousin in Vancouver, Washington informed me that my only remaining Uncle had a heart attack and wasn't expecting to make it through the night. I called back immediately, and he confirmed that my Uncle wasn't expected to make it through the next half hour or so. So, obviously I'm keeping my phone line open as much as I can.
Since I am writing this off line, purposely with respect to the above, I'll send this out momentarily, but downloads will be quick and to the point until I receive more information from Vancouver.
Dave Laird wrote to Frank Reichert...
I previously wrote:
So, why would you even suggest that the poor, in a free-market context, would not have access to medial aid? Doctors Without Borders is only one organization that comes to mind, that routinely reaches around the globe to meet medical demands when various governments, using force, can't meet the challenge.
To which, you replied:
But what of the poor right here in good old U.S.A., Frank? The free-market, and pretty much anyone else, is an abyssmal failure when it comes to meeting the health care needs of poor and lower-middle class families in the United States. True, there are some clinics and health care projects that are designed to meet interim needs of low-to-moderate income families, but generally speaking, based upon a series of reports by the Surgeon General's Office, they are frequently spread too thin, if and when they are available at all.
I would like to defer my comments to what Dr. Tame wrote here just earlier on this same subject.
One of the reasons you point out why the free-marked has become an 'abysmal failure' is because we do not currently have a free market for medical care. It is hamstrung by massive government regulation, and certainly is NOT free in terms of what services could be offered, and accepted by individual customers under a true free-market economy. Dr. Tame also noted that a true free-market economy would largely end most poverty and create wealth for the majority of people if that process were allowed to work under a largely volunteer method, to which I certainly agree that it would, also as noted by Dr. Tame, which it has prove to do historically when it was allowed to work its course.
According to last year's report from the Tri-County Health District (Stevens, Ferry and Pend O'Reille Counties) they currently are serving more than 42% of the total populations in the counties where they currently serve. That isn't to suggest that the rural hospitals are getting filthy rich, either. While Sacred Heart here in Spokane has cut their staff nearly by half, and have begun an ambitious multi-million dollar expansion of their facilities, both Colville, Chewelah, Colfax and other rural area hospitals are on the verge of bankruptcy.
Are you trying to suggest here that the rational reason for such contingencies have resulted from true free-market driven forces, or perhaps rather as a result of an already hamstrung national health care bureaucratic nightmare forced upon both would-be providers and customers in the health care industry? Again, I would like to point out that we do NOT presently enjoy a true market-driven economy in health care in the United States, including Spokane County, Washington.
Even worse, if a low-to-moderate income patient is admitted to either Sacred
Heart or Deaconess Hospitals here in Spokane, and do not have health
insurance, they are most certainly guaranteed to lose all their few assets,
including their homes, to the largest collection agency in Eastern
Washington representing the hospitals.
Wouldn't you suspect, in a true market-driven economy in health care, without political government-driven restraints, that rational [reasonable] people, both providers and consumers, might be able to find the most economical way to address such issues? The 'Health Care' monopoly, which it has become, is largely the result of large corporate conglomerate industries controlling the political processes in this country, and that should become obvious when you discover the billions of dollars being poured into advertising by the Drug corporations on television alone! The politicians, who make the laws, are being lavishly funded by these same corporate interests.
John F. McManus, speaking in Spokane, Washington over one-decade ago, made the remark, and I quote it here only for a definitive argument:
"If you believe that health care costs are high today... wait until it is free!"
When 'health care' becomes a monopoly under the province of law created by politicians, it will then become prohibitively unaffordable for everyone, and the quality of such care will be sacrificed except by only those who can find a way to find a government loophole to jump through.
As a sidebar to this. The Drug Corporations don't really want to cure your disease. They would be out of business if they cured cancer, for example. They are in the business of selling medicine for remedying symptoms, not curing diseases. As long as you are sick, in danger, you'll buy their products no matter what it costs!
Guess what? A real pure free market would go a long way in finding cancer cures, since the one finding such a cure would certainly have a tremendous share in the overall free market for those benefiting the most. It would probably force the Drug monopoly out of the market entirely. Perhaps that's the best thing that could happen, and ONLY a free market could make it happen.
No, the health care system in Eastern Washington is a travesty. Our nation
is quick to provide emergency medical assistance to nearly every other
country in the world in the time of need, while ignoring the plight of our
own right here in Eastern Washington.
I suppose what I wrote last night still holds. There are a lot of Americans that still volunteer their time, money and resources for those who fall through the cracks. What if we had more of our money, time and resources available to do the things that we choose to volunteer for such efforts?
I believe that given a truly free-market approach to this issue would yield the greatest benefits for the greatest number of people, and that the volunteer efforts by many, might best resolve most if not all of the difficulties of those who really do fall under the cracks.
Kindest regards,
Frank
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