On the Subject of Healthcare

Those in favor of a single-payer, government-run healthcare system claim that such an institution is better--more considerate of its patients and their health. The site these reasons (for starters):

• There are only 3 major insurance companies in the industry and they are monopolizing it.
• Insurance companies are raising prices and changing their policies unfairly.
• The companies are dropping customers for 'petty' reasons and to the detriment of the patient's health.

Interestingly, if you seriously look at what a single-payer, government-run healthcare system will actually look like, you will see:

• A monopoly
• A monopoly that can raise prices and change policies however it sees fit
• A monopoly that will drop customers for 'petty' reasons because it can't afford to cover minor treatments, all to the detriment of the patient's health

The claim that an insurance company is monopolizing its industry attempts to cast monopolies as evil--in the interest of profits rather than the greater good. However, one of the basic rules of economics states that when governments enter into an economy with legislation, true unfairness happens--via unequal prices for value. An industry that has a LEGISLATED monopoly equals the real evil, not the industry with the capitalistic monopoly.

So in their quest to make healthcare better for the common good, proponents are actually destroying the best healthcare option and proposing one that does not have patients' best interest in mind.