(In response to a recent editorial: “Free market health care, not goofy gov. health care”). There is honest opinion and there is opinion tailored to mislead. Unfortunately, Jeff Jared prefers the latter. On a point by point basis:
“The private sector always gets more bang for the buck”: True, free market economics requires plenty of competition and equal access to and a full understanding of information regarding the service or product. Unfortunately, this is not the case with regard to insurance. In this market, the consumer is a crop to be picked, not an equal and fully informed partner in making a choice. Fortunately, I am old enough to be on a government insurance program, Medicare. I pay $96.40 a month to the government. If I had to pay a private insurance firm for the same coverage outside of Medicare, it would be significantly more. Jared is simply wrong in making this statement.
“Government plans, in anything, lead to elitism, where the wealthy and politically well-connected cut to the front of the line, and a two-tiered system evolves”: I’m not sure what government plans he is talking about. Medicare treats everyone the same with the only discrimination being the number of quarters of Medicare-covered employment. There is no elitism. If there were, I certainly wouldn’t be able to be covered by it as I am far from being wealthy, politically well-connected, or elite.
“Socialized medicine has failed everywhere it’s been tried from Canada to Britain”: Medicine in Canada is not socialized. It is practiced by private doctors and businesses. What is socialized in Canada is the insurance. They simply have a single-payer system. This eliminates a lot of administrative costs and keeps costs down.
“How many Americans go to Canada for health care? Yet tons of Canadians come here for health care”: That is comparing apples to oranges And it is misleading. “Tons of Canadians” do not come to the states for health care. Very few of the 31 million people that are covered in Canada do. There are a few special cases and, I suspect, far less than the number of Americans who go to Southeast Asia and Mexico for medical treatment that they can afford. But, as a rugby player who often plays against Canadian sides, I have spent more than a few hours in their emergency rooms and have always gotten good and timely service – especially when compared to hospitals here. And Americans don’t go to Canada specifically for health care because they aren’t insured there. If you have insurance here, it’s the same thing as seeing a doctor that is “in plan” versus one that is “out of plan.” Jared’s statement here is definitely tailored to mislead.
“We should say “yes” to privatized health care where we reduce insurance companies, employers, and governments’ intervention between the doctor and patient”: I am on Medicare. It is a government program about as close to being a single payer as you can get without being such. No government official stands between me and my doctor. This is another statement that is tailored to mislead.
Jared is entitled to his opinion and our Constitution gives him the right to speak his mind no matter how misleading or ill-informed he may be. But, the same goes for me. In my opinion, Jeff Jared is an ignorant ideologue or an outright liar. I suggest that we give him the benefit of the doubt as to which.
Jon Meads, Kirkland
