By Ignacio Gutierrez
March 18, 2007
If every registered voter
had to pass a microeconomics exam before casting their ballots, most politicians
would be voted out of office. Because if people understood the difference
between what politicians promise and what can actually be delivered, political
rhetoric would be rendered obsolete. And with the current presidential
candidates making universal healthcare their priority, it behooves many voters
to understand some basic economic terms such as incentives, tradeoffs, supply
and demand, but most importantly, cost.
The cost of healthcare is
something people would rather forget, particularly those who demand healthcare
as a universal right. For the most part, people are insulated from its costs.
The average American pays $1 out of pocket for every $6 spent on healthcare.
While most decisions are made by patients and doctors, theyÕre paid for by insurance
companies and/or government. Therefore, the incentive to control costs is
minimal.
But with politicians
stepping in and touting Òproblem solvedÓ regarding the new crop of Insurance
Mandated Health Plans, such as in Massachusetts, California and Oregon,
something is bound to give. For those who simply canÕt afford insurance, now by
law, they must purchase it. However, government will subsidize their costs, and
even include zero deductible plans. But that coupled with the added cost of
enforcing these new policies will create a trade off voters hadnÕt bargain for.
While recent polls have
shown that 67% of Americans are willing to pay higher taxes for universal
healthcare, those same polls donÕt reflect how much weÕre willing to actually
pay or lose in our choice for providers. Those polls would reflect a different
percentage if people realized theyÕll be paying more in taxes within a single
payer system as opposed to private health insurance via a free market.
Though many politicians are
quick to laud Canada as a prime example of a single payer system, rarely will
they speak of the exodus of thousands of Canadian doctors due to excessive
regulation. Nor will they sell their constituents on the average wait time of
14 weeks for treatment most Canadians endure, where patients have died on
waiting lists from becoming too sick to tolerate procedures.
Numbers never lie, nor do they fall short on empty promises after winning elections. When more people start adding them up and stop taking healthcareÕs inevitable costs for granted, the demand for an affordable system will push politicians to supply voters with solutions that wonÕt force us to learn other economic terms such as stagflation and scarcity.