Rick Rozoff recently sent me a message that helps us understand a basic feature of socialized medicine. It is closely associated with death. Socialists complain that the free market makes medical care “too expensive” for the poor and middle class. Because of this, they propose to provide “free” medical care for everybody. Of course, it isn’t free. It’s either paid for by taxes or inflation, which is itself a cruel tax.But once the “free” care is offered, there is a problem. At a zero, or very low, price, there will be much more medical services that people demand than can be provided. Suppose, for example, that you are having back pains. Should you get an MRI taken of your back? If you had to pay for the test yourself, you would hesitate. But if it
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Rick Rozoff recently sent me a message that helps us understand a basic feature of socialized medicine. It is closely associated with death. Socialists complain that the free market makes medical care “too expensive” for the poor and middle class. Because of this, they propose to provide “free” medical care for everybody. Of course, it isn’t free. It’s either paid for by taxes or inflation, which is itself a cruel tax.
But once the “free” care is offered, there is a problem. At a zero, or very low, price, there will be much more medical services that people demand than can be provided. Suppose, for example, that you are having back pains. Should you get an MRI taken of your back? If you had to pay for the test yourself, you would hesitate. But if it is available “free,” why not take it? Many more people will want MRIs than the available machines make possible. As everybody knows, this means long wait times.There’s another way the socialists can solve the problem of shortages. This by killing people. If there are fewer people around, demand will go down.
Do you think that this is too bizarre to put into practice, even for socialists? If you think so, you are giving the socialists too much credit. That’s exactly what they are doing in Canada. The Canadian government makes euthanasia available to people for free. If you’ve got a problem, why not “solve” it by ending tour own life? A crazy Canadian “doctor” enjoys killing people. She recently snuck into an Orthodox Jewish nursing home and killed an 83 year old resident, even though Jewish law prohibits euthanasia. She was not prosecuted for this gross violation of property rights or subject to any sanctions. She remains free to go on her with her murderous ways.
The great economist Ludwig von Mises identified the basic problem with socialized medicine in his book Socialism, first published in 1922. Mises pointed out the problem of excess demand that “free” treatment will suffer from He said: “The destructionist aspect of accident and health insurance lies above all in the fact that such institutions promote accidents and illness, hinder recovery, and very often create, or at any rate intensify and lengthen, the functional disorders which follow illness or accident. . . lnsurance against diseases breeds disease.” (Socialism, pp.476-477)
Now let’s look at what happened in Canada. Rick Rozoff wrote to me about the egregious Canadian “doctor” Ellen Wiebe. She enjoys killing people! She thinks she is doing a good thing. The Canadian government encourages her and others like her to go on with their killing ways. She also likes killing babies. She kills people by abortions and euthanasia. This is socialized medicine in action.
Note: The views expressed on Mises.org are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute.
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