The coming disaster in American healthcare......

As I have commented on before, Liberal's arrogant healthcare plans will not only fail to deliver anything of consequence, it will exacerbate the trends towards reducing the availability of primary care.

during the American Presidential campaign, we heard many shrill speeches on the lack of health insurance coverage for 10's of millions of typical Americans. I think that the number most lately battered and flung about is 45 million. So these thoughts come to my mind:

1. Having such a large number of people presumably not receiving adequate healthcare due to the lack of money (its always about money) available to cover their insurance payments would naturally lead one to believe that there conversely should be providers of this needed healthcare that are underemployed and twittling their thumbs. This, I humbly think is is not the situation since this would imply that there are 10's of thousands of unemployed doctors.

2. When speaking to British, Canadian, German, frothing at the mouth neo-expert American Liberals, etc. socialized medicine recipients and adherents where the socialized healthcare systems are also beset by shortages of primary care physicians, argue that they will just import doctors from 3rd world countries to meet the needs. This is also what is going on in the largely non-socialized US, where shortages are being met by importing doctors and nurses from India, Philippines, Turkey and many other places.

3. So as the West scavenges primary care doctors and nurses from 3rd world nations, isn't that going to create great burdens on populations of poor people there? Seems as if the plans are just shifting the crisis from the Rich nations to the poor ones under the stealing doctor and nurses model being offered.

Even the uber-Liberal untrustworthy New York Times has this to say on the looming doctor shortages.....

Obama administration officials, alarmed at doctor shortages, are looking for ways to increase the supply of physicians to meet the needs of an aging population and millions of uninsured people who would gain coverage under legislation championed by the president.

The officials said they were particularly concerned about shortages of primary care providers who are the main source of health care for most Americans.

Now, how is this alarming? Its the normal workings of markets and normal human reality; make something rewarding enough, then there will be human and technological capital movement to meet the need. Force the price of a good or service lower through government fiat and resources will move to other uses that give a better risk adjusted return.

Governments will NEVER be able to effectively and efficiently deliver healthcare for 2 principle reasons....

1. Governments are unable to allocate scarce resources efficiently since no single entity could possibly know how to allocate resources optimally and efficiently in such a large and complex business.

2. Technological changes and innovation constantly change the efficiency and effectiveness of various procedures and processes and in a static system, there are no market feedback mechanisms that change the static government plan.

Furthermore, heavy government intervention will ensure that innovation and technology investment will not be allocated to this business unless there are guarantees that this investment will be allowed to have a payoff. Otherwise, investment will go into other areas away from healthcare.