tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8573839334358190868.post4282094874230953373..comments2024-03-29T09:46:18.877-04:00Comments on The Apothecary: The Serendipitous SocialistsAvik Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17800177830841080188noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8573839334358190868.post-13569910600118818242010-09-07T11:05:44.882-04:002010-09-07T11:05:44.882-04:00Hi Steve,
I think most conservatives use the term...Hi Steve,<br /><br />I think most conservatives use the term "socialism" to mean increased government subsidization and/or control of the economy. I gather that liberals think of the term as equal to communism, or at least, of *total* government control of a given sector. That may be part of the issue.<br /><br />If you are arguing that we should have socialized medicine because lots of other countries do, I wouldn't consider that a strong argument -- unless you want the high tax rates, fiscal instability, and economic stagnation of those other countries as well. As you know, I'm an advocate of the Swiss model, which combines low HC spending with universal care. I wouldn't describe their outcomes as "roughly equivalent" -- there is a really wide range of health care systems and results in the rest of the developed world.<br /><br />Mark Pauly is still an advocate of the individual mandate, as far as I know.Avik Royhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800177830841080188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8573839334358190868.post-55217808514282499472010-09-07T00:42:32.198-04:002010-09-07T00:42:32.198-04:00Steve, most of the rest of the world also has unsu...Steve, most of the rest of the world also has unsustainable cost growth, so they are on the same disastrous path that we are. They have longer to try and figure it out obviously since they're starting from a lower base, but no one has really solved the problem yet. <br /><br />And no one serious is really calling for "a free market system, in its purest sense". Everyone realizes that there will always be some level of gov't involvement in the health care system, the question is to what degree and in what aspects of the system they intervene. Like I said above, the rest of the first world has the same cost growth problems, so it's not as if we should just copy one of those systems directly. If we're going to make dramatic changes we have to find a sustainable way to do it. There are definitely things to learn from some of the other systems, but there are good things about our own system that we ought to try and maintain as well.ABnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8573839334358190868.post-51068613856740926672010-09-06T20:39:16.647-04:002010-09-06T20:39:16.647-04:001) We need a commonly agreed upon definition of so...1) We need a commonly agreed upon definition of socialism. <br /><br />2) Most of the rest of the first world manages to achieve lower costs with roughly equivalent outcomes with a lot of government involvement. Most are not really socialist, using a textbook definition and not using it in a pejorative sense. <br /><br />3) There is wisdom in markets and mass experience. I think it should make you think twice when you realize that no one else has a health care system remotely like ours. No one else has a system that is a free market system, in its purest sense. Perhaps all of these other peoples are trying to tell us something. The people in these other countries have voted in and continue to vote for systems that use little market input. Yet ours is the one in trouble, before Obamacare one might add.<br /><br /><br /><br />Query-Does Pauly still support the individual mandate?<br /><br />Steve<br /><br />4) No, I am not a fan of the NHS. I know few who really think we should go that route. However, suppose you wanted decent health care at half of our current cost? Might be the only way to do it. Hope we never get that broke TBH. <br /><br />Stevestevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14470634215313696595noreply@blogger.com