The Ugly Truth About Health Care (and What We Can Do About It)
A free market revolution would make health care cheap and universally available. President Bush just took a big step in that direction.
by Rod D. Martin
April 4, 2006
President Bush was addressing health care again Tuesday morning. But the President many conservatives assail for his gargantuan prescription drug benefit wasn't talking about socialism.
In fact, he was promoting its exact opposite. And it may well be the cure for virtually all of America's health care disease.
The problem is not resources. America is the richest country in human history, with the best-trained doctors and nurses, the highest quality medical schools, and technology that is nothing short of miraculous.
The problem is also not the free market, as socialized medicine proponents always claim. The proof is as close as your television or Victoria's Secret catalog. High quality plastic surgery is a booming business in America, and is largely uncovered by insurance or Medicare. As a result, it faces none of the government price-fixing applied to most basic health care, and guess what? Prices drop each year, while plastic surgeons make more and more mon…