Hey Doc...Why Are Heathcare Costs so High?

I don't think there is anything wrong with the quality of American healthcare. I think the thing that concerns me and most Americans, and the thing that is likely to kill us, is the BILL!

Two out of every three heart patients die after they receive their bill! Especially if they are uninsured. So then why is healthcare so expensive?

Probably for the same reasons housing and cars are expensive. It has to do with the law of supply and demand. The demand for these items is much higher than say...the demand for computers.

Why?

Try to imagine a world with no credit, no insurance, and no government programs. How much could your doctor charge you if you and others could only pay with cash? Well...not nearly as much, especially if there is another doctor down the road he has to compete with.

Too little government interference and lots of free-market competition.

That is why your computer is so cheap and yet the quality and performance of computers have improved astronomically over the years. Of course, you can buy a computer with your credit card, so that jacks up the price a tad.
A credit card means you have more money to spend. You therefore add more demand to the price equation.

If the price of computers go up because more and more folks have credit cards along with their cash, poor people are going to have a harder time affording computers.

What is the answer? Computer insurance! Here is how it works: a whole bunch of poor people get together and pool their resources. That money is used to pay for a computer.

But there is an unseen consequence: now there is even more demand for computers than ever before. The price of computers become so expensive, even the middle class can no longer afford one.

So they buy computer insurance also. The price of computers skyrockets! What is the answer to this problem?

Computercare! This program is limited to those over age 65, since this is the group that has the most trouble affording a computer.

The consequence? More demand for computers, which cause even higher prices! What is the answer to this computer crisis?

Universal Computercare! Computercare for every man, woman and child! Of course this will only jack up costs further. As a result, more and more people will depend on some sort of insurance or government program.

Gone are the good old days when you could easily afford a computer and did not have to pay a 15% national sales tax to fund Universal Computercare.

If the government should monopolize the computer biz, the quality of the computers will no doubt go down a cyber black hole! The same is true if the government decided to bail out computer companies that suck like GM and your favorite financial institution. Lack of competition and rewarding failure reduces quality every time!

Perhaps by now you are starting to see a pattern: credit, insurance, and government programs don't really make things more affordable.

Computers are fast, efficient, powerful and affordable precisely because there is no computer insurance, nor computercare. Free market competition prevents the "computer crisis" from becoming a reality.

So why not do with healthcare what we have done with computers? Let's fire everybody and press the restart button--allow the free market to make prices drop while quality soars!

Nah! That would be too easy!