Letter: Government can’t be trusted on health care

Richard McCord

Friday, Feb. 2, 2007 | 7:09 a.m.

So Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama want universal health care. And many of your readers agree. But if having the government run our health care system is such a good idea, why not let the government decide what cars we drive? Because instinctively we know the government would have us driving crummy cars that cost more. And if you say health care is more important than cars, I completely agree.

What if taxes bought our groceries at government-run stores? We could take whatever we wanted off the shelves, and it wouldn't "cost" anything. But the shelves would soon be empty and everyone would have to wait to get food. Quality would worsen and taxes would increase. Is health care delivery immune from this outcome?

What about the "45 million uninsured?" That they don't have health insurance doesn't necessarily mean they can't get it. Many decline insurance because they're young, or they choose to work for small companies without health plans, or they choose not to work. The common thread is choice. Some people choose not to own a car, but we don't buy them one.

Our insurance-based health care system is not the best possible system. But universal health care is not the only alternative. There is every reason to believe that a market system would work as well for health care as it does for cars and groceries. And we would get better health care and more of it.

Richard McCord, Henderson