Mark Steyn, writing for the National Review Online, talks about how government health care plans are so complicated that nobody understands them. I suspect he is right.
His point about how the only way government holds down health care costs is by providing less of it (i.e., rationing) is correct. Stories of Canadians crossing the border to get a hip replaced in something like real time instead of waiting 2-3 years are common.
You know the trope "good enough for government work?" U.K. doctors, who work for the National Health Service, treat their work like civil servants everywhere, with nonchalance. U.S. doctors do not.
There is a lovely bit in the early pages of Tom Clancy's novel Red Rabbit that lays out the difference between the work habits of U.S. and U.K. doctors. I know it is a novel, but I believe Clancy has the tone just about right.
If we need to find a way to get health coverage for everybody, let's find a way that doesn't end up with our doctors and other health professionals working for the government.
