Thinking Clearly About Health Care
Well, now the hard part. If we want to limit government, we need to first repeal Obamacare and then start taking steps to restore freedom to medicine. The challenge is that most Americans do not want freedom in medicine. That’s what we need to try to change.
Here’s one thing you can do right now: educate yourself. The better you understand the health care issue, the more powerful an advocate for freedom in medicine you’ll be.
Here are some recommended resources:
What’s wrong with the individual mandate?
- “The Irresponsible Individual Mandate” by Don Watkins and Yaron Brook
What should we do about pre-existing conditions?
- “The Road to Socialized Medicine Is Paved with Preexisting Conditions” by Don Watkins and Yaron Brook
Why are health care costs spiraling out of control?
- “The Problem With Our Health Care Debate” by Alex Epstein
- “The Real Problem With Health Care. . .And The Real Solution” by Yaron Brook
How is government interfering with the practice of medicine?
- “Medicine: The Death of a Profession” by Leonard Peikoff
- “Prescription Drug Benefits Violate the Rights of Drug Companies” by Onkar Ghate
- “In Defense of Health Insurance Discrimination” by Don Watkins
Why is it wrong for the government to guarantee people “free” health care?
- “Health Care Is Not a Right” by Leonard Peikoff (video here)
- “No Right to ‘Free’ Health Care” by Onkar Ghate
- “What’s Wrong With Free Health Care?” by Yaron Brook (video)
- “Should the Supreme Court Overturn Obamacare?” by Yaron Brook (video)
What does the Constitution say about government’s role in health care?
- “‘The Constitution of Ayn Rand’?” by Thomas Bowden
- “What to Expect from the Obamacare Litigation” by Thomas Bowden
- “Nancy Pelosi vs. The Founding Fathers” by Alex Epstein
How can we win the debate over health care?
- “Capturing the Moral High Ground: Why Only Private Health Care Is Moral” by Yaron Brook (video)
- “You Are Not Your Brother’s Health Care Provider” by Yaron Brook (video)
- “You Are Not Your Brother’s Health Care Provider” (an earlier and lengthier version of the previous talk) by Yaron Brook (video)
3 Comments to “Thinking Clearly About Health Care”
Thanks for all the links, and, yes, it is definitely an up-hill battle to have freedom in health care. I do think the issue of leaving health care providers free (from force) to administer medication according to their professional standards is the best solution, and one that upholds the individual rights of all involved. However, one of the biggest canards against us is the idea that health insurers and medical providers ought to be free to charge as necessary for both pre-existing conditions and highly advanced medical procedures. Due to many factors (public education and Leftist propaganda primarily), many people think they are being overly charged and that the insurance companies are “ripping them off” in making them pay for their coverage. But there is no free ride and convincing people that there is no free ride is going to be our most difficult battle.
But have at it! And may reason prevail. . . .
The bottom line is, I think, that those in the medical / insurance professions ought to speak out in favor of their own rights and reject altruism in that regard.
I don’t know if you will permit a link of my own, but here is my appeal to the health care industry to stand up for their rights:
http://www.appliedphilosophyonline.com/doctors_and_individual_rights.htm
I think you can mention one possible free market solution to pre-existing conditions and that would be health-status insurance that John Cochrane from the CATO institute talked about.
Here is a comprehensive history of government intervention in health care in the US:
http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/issues/2007-winter/moral-vs-universal-health-care.asp