Razib Khan

September 11, 2009

Am the only one who has reached the end of the line in terms of complacency about the state of American politics during the healthcare debate? I’m cynical, but even I have limits. I’m at the point now that the lies, liars and, the deluded public have simply saturated my ability to take it all in stride.

Yes, Obama wants to socialize medicine. Of course it will cost more; he’s not a genie who can magically generate medical services with three wishes. No, we don’t have a free market in healthcare, our rotten employer-driven system is the stepchild of the warfare state and wage controls. It’s lassoed by reams of ridiculous regulation. Many states force insurance to cover infertility treatments, as if women who decide to focus on their careers deep into their 30s are a medical condition. Rather, this is just a transfer of wealth (via higher premiums) from those who have children in their 20s, when fertility is optimal, to those who try to breed at the tail end of their fertility curve.

Speaking of regulation, doctors protect us against quacks through licensing and certification, and also manage to limit their labor supply so they can bid their services up. Those services involve me telling my doctor what cortisone inhaler to prescribe when I have bronchitis. $200 charge to insurance there for their signature based on my advice.