The States Have Begun Rationing Health Care
The truth is that rationing exists in any market. No entity, be it an individual or a business or the government, can provide an infinite supply of something on a finite budget. At some point, there will be rationing, because at some point somebody has to pay for what you’re getting.
So the question, in terms of the health care market, isn’t whether or not there will be rationing. The question is who controls the rationing. As Americans become more and more dependent on government health care, whether it be through programs like Medicaid or Medicare or because we’re herded onto government-approved health insurance policies through Obamacare, the government gets more of a say in our health care.
Case in point, the clamp-down by the states on prescriptions available through Medicaid programs:
(CNSNews.com) – Sixteen states have set a limit on the number of prescription drugs they will cover for Medicaid patients, according to Kaiser Health News.
Seven of those states, according to Kaiser Health News, have enacted or tightened those limits in just the last two years.
Medicaid is a federal program that is carried out in partnership with state governments. It forms an important element of President Barack Obama’s health-care plan because under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act–AKA Obamcare–a larger number of people will be covered by Medicaid, as the income cap is raised for the program.
With both the expanded Medicaid program and the federal subsidy for health-care premiums that will be available to people earning up to 400 percent of the poverty level, a larger percentage of the population will be wholly or partially dependent on the government for their health care under Obamacare than are now.
The problem with health care policy in America is that so many see the goal as an unlimited supply of health care which everyone can access whenever they want. This is impossible. This is a pipe dream. We cannot achieve this. Nor should we want to obligate everyone to everyone else’s health care costs (if only because that opens the door to everyone’s health choices being regulated for the “common good”).
Rather, health care should be an individual responsibility so that the control over what sort of care you can access (and how much of it) is up to you.
Obviously, some people aren’t always going to be able to pay for all the health care they need. But better to always be able to buy all you want, even if you can’t afford all you need, than to have the government decide for you.
And to the extent that we should make health care more affordable, because there’s no denying that prices are bloated, we should remove obstacles such as the prohibition on selling insurance across state lines and the American Medical Association’s restrictions on the number of doctors available to provide care. In free markets, consumers have little problem purchasing the products/services they need. In health care, the problems are entirely the government putting obstacles between Americans and their ability to get care.
Tags: Health Care, medicaid, medicare, obamacare, rationing
