Friday, June 21, 2013

That useless brain


Why ask why? 

For those old enough to remember, that was the question posed
in a television commercial in a bygone era, and one that should
be asked again today.

But the problem with asking why is that it presupposes you’ll
actually think.

And, hey, why do that? 

It’s so much easier to follow the crowd.

That’s what Holman W. Jenkins Jr., writes about in one of his latest
columns in The Wall Street Journal. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324634304578539453974685238.html)

That journalism suffers from a lack of mental dexterity or that
people are more easily swayed by their emotions or habits they
picked up from their parents and ancestors– anything but their brains!
– in deciding their votes or other important issues should come as no surprise.

After all, if your parents were Democrats, you’ll likely be one, too;
the same goes for Republicans. 

Religious beliefs are similar.  If you were brought up Catholic, you’ll
likely be one as an adult; and the same holds for every other religion.

It’s easy to simplify problems.  All we need is demon and a solution.

The fact that medical care is expensive is the demon.  The easy
solution – as brought to us by Congress and President Obama -- is to
make health insurance affordable and, thus, accessible to all. 

The fact that healthcare, as provided by the doctors and
the nurses, might suffer is not something you should think about.

And, whatever you do, don’t think about basic economics and the
fact that, at any time, you introduce a third-party payer – as the
current health care system is set up – the provider of any service,
medical care included, is given the ability to raise their prices, thereby
making healthcare unaffordable to anyone who doesn’t buy a
health insurance policy.

Or the fact that insurance companies, forced to cover any and
all illnesses, might compel some doctors to leave the system so
they're able to only accept private money for their services
isn’t something you should worry about either.  

The easier thing, instead, is to go along with the people who have
a complication to solve the complication.  It comes to us as the
Affordable Care Act, which, essentially, sells us to the health
insurance industry. 

Which means, other than allowing you to buy health insurance,
nothing’s been resolved.

But don’t think about that.

A better solution – if someone really wanted to lower the
doctors’ fees, hospital prices and drug prices – would have
been to eliminate insurance companies.

But that would have been too radical.

And since you’re struggling with basic thinking, Senators,
Members of Congress and the President know you can’t
handle hard solutions that require arduous thinking.

If everyone in the healthcare industry was forced to compete on
price – like the car companies are – drugs and doctor visits
wouldn’t cost nearly as much. 

Sure, there would some high-priced doctors and hospitals just like
there are high-priced cars and houses.  Those on the high end
would sell better service.

At the lowest tier, doctors charging far less would offer economy care.

And most doctors would likely fall somewhere in the middle for things
like physicals and urgent care.

But, hey, why think? 

It’s so much easier to leave that to someone else.



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