Christina’s Common Sense

The government has repeatedly demonstrated its incompetence to run anything. From car registration to education to its own (all too numerous) agencies, the government has done nothing but make life more complicated, more expensive, and lower in quality. Yet for some reason there seems to be this idea that when it comes to extending health coverage to every living human being in the country, government will miraculously be cured of its inherent flaws.

This notion, of course, has been proven wrong many times by our neighbors across the pond, who now have such a healthcare crisis that they are implementing steps to return to a more free market healthcare system.

The problems with British healthcare include do-it-yourself tooth extractions, critically ill patients being left in ambulance holding patterns while they wait for a doctor to become available, and mandating that patients discuss only one illness per visit. As if that weren’t enough proof, Canadians (who also have universal healthcare) are coming to the US to get the medicine they need—and some of them are suing their government to pick up the tab.

American healthcare is a mess. I won’t deny that. But we must not confuse the need to fix it with the idea that it is the government’s job to do so. How much would you trust a friend who kept letting you down? Better yet, how long would he be your friend? Not long, I’ll bet. So why do we trust the government when it keeps letting us down and its programs are shown not to work? I can’t see why. Our healthcare system needs help, but government action is demonstrably not the answer.