Garbanzo Toons

Dirty, Filthy, Greedy Capitalists

In the midst of the Obamacare debate, an astounding and possibly racist, imperialist discovery has been made. Capitalism is responsible for lowering medical costs. Can you believe it?

In some of the most significant changes in decades, hospital systems are beginning to post their prices publicly and offer a range of help, including big discounts to uninsured and underinsured people with limited household incomes.

Health insurers also have embraced the trend. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Health Alliance Plan, Priority Health and Aetna are among those with improved Web sites that provide the average cost of a procedure. Some sites even zoom in on local prices when visitors type in their ZIP code.

"It's a fundamental shift" in how health care prices are set and publicized, said Stephen Hathaway, chief revenue officer for the Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System.

The changes come as Michigan's uninsured population has grown to 1.35 million, an increase of 200,000 between 2007 and 2009, the latest year of information available from the state health department.

Didn't Obama and his progressive minions assure us that only the government can bring down health care costs? And they insisted that only their preferred method, strong government intervention to the point of forcing all citizens to buy health insurance from from a government insurance provider )as private insurance companies are to be driven out of business) would insure that we Americans continue to enjoy some of the world's best medical care. This, of course, doesn't apply to the over 700 organizations (including labor unions who fought long and hard to encourage the passage of Obamacare) who have been given waivers so that they do NOT have to participate in Obamacare because it's driven up their health care costs. Huh? What? Driven costs up?

Wait. Did up become down, and down become up? Have I not been informed of Progressive changes in the English language? Or is somebody not being honest with the American public?

But seriously folks, now that it has been demonstrated once again that Capitalism and free markets are responsible for lower costs, greater wealth creation, greater freedom, increased innovation, a better standard of living by just about any honest measure you can choose, and that increased government control over the economy leads to the opposite, why are some people still clamoring for more government spending to "create jobs."

Do some people absolutely refuse to learn?

Update:
I found this article after I posted.

“It’s an industry that’s going through the roof,” said Mark Semple, president of Vancouver-based Passport Medical. “It’s wait times, it’s cost, it’s price, it’s quality and accessibility.”

Retired accountant Gary Davidge of Calgary started looking into hip replacements two years ago when they cost $45,000 U.S. in Arizona. When the arthritis pain in his hip intensified in December, a medical broker found him a price of $18,800 in Montana.

Although Mr. Davidge’s preference would have been to have his operation at home funded by Canada’s public health system, the average wait was a year to 18 months, and no one could tell him with certainty when the surgery would take place.

So, as others before me have asked, where do the Canadians go (and where do we go) to escape socialized medicine?

Labels: capitalism, economics, economy, Obama, Obamacare, Progressives

posted by Harry @ 10:27 AM