tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post4225502266319358219..comments2024-03-27T05:23:48.855-04:00Comments on Krugman-in-Wonderland: Krugman and Medical Care: We Need More SocialismWilliam L. Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802990642236807359noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-66166432207385829422013-10-24T02:42:10.757-04:002013-10-24T02:42:10.757-04:00An excellent post William. Thank you for your coge...An excellent post William. Thank you for your cogent analysis.<br /><i>Check this out too:</i><br /><a href="http://www.ironcomet.com/medisoft-software" rel="nofollow">Medical Insurance Billing Software</a>Eddziehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01906008853265532351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-31972223255148223502012-07-04T14:22:15.282-04:002012-07-04T14:22:15.282-04:00I think that the USSR is exactly the example the s...I think that the USSR is exactly the example the socialists should have to answer to. The socialist program was enacted there in every facet of the economy. The "free" healthcare system didn't have any segment of the economy that it could milk for funds to cover up its flaws, and there was no way to shift the blame for its failures to that evil old free market either.<br /><br />It was a pure socialist experiment, insulated from the "evils" of capitalism. If "single-payer" (how I hate that euphemism; call it what it is, government-run) healthcare couldn't make it in the USSR, how could it possibly make it anywhere?Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02009051193880309953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-74493946729437130172012-07-01T23:58:41.162-04:002012-07-01T23:58:41.162-04:00I never claimed that public health systems in the ...I never claimed that public health systems in the west are a panacea. I just think it dishonest and lazy to use the extreme of the ussr as an argument. Anderson what about the law limits innovation in medical devices? Also why are u confusing entrepreneur doctors with entrepreneur device makers? The former have much more perverse incentives in a pure private market.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-51199002578352533592012-07-01T22:47:03.248-04:002012-07-01T22:47:03.248-04:00I used to live in Duluth, Minnesota and often I wo...I used to live in Duluth, Minnesota and often I would find myself sitting next to a Canadian in the doctor's waiting room.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-54285981991136425252012-07-01T22:46:32.355-04:002012-07-01T22:46:32.355-04:00A couple of years ago a Canadian woman was about t...A couple of years ago a Canadian woman was about to have quadruplets or quintuplets or some kind of unusual multiple birth and there was NO hospital in Canada that was willing to admit her, apparently because they didn't have the facilities or technology or something. So she successfully gave birth in the ultra-exclusive, state-of-the-art medical palace in Great Falls, MT. Make of that what you will.Pulverized Conceptshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14860274211446159849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-33089614108685279312012-07-01T22:42:08.342-04:002012-07-01T22:42:08.342-04:00"One of the best health care systems in the w..."One of the best health care systems in the world is that of France, where there is universal access and a considerable degree of private provision or medical practice in the system."<br /><br />And France has unsustainable government spending and now some idiot socialist as their new leader. That ought to solve their problems. I hear that the bond vigilantes are already lining up.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-36656271122103890092012-07-01T19:37:14.537-04:002012-07-01T19:37:14.537-04:00Anonymous #1 is clearly ignorant of the healthcare...Anonymous #1 is clearly ignorant of the healthcare system in the UK. I have family in London and they buy additional private insurance because the NHS is atrocious.micknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-16785953952396514362012-07-01T16:20:51.765-04:002012-07-01T16:20:51.765-04:00Can #1 explain how UK & Canada have "thri...Can #1 explain how UK & Canada have "thriving" health care? I don't think hardly 20% of Americans want an NHS.Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11205752419540502278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-76743253415471673012012-07-01T16:16:06.465-04:002012-07-01T16:16:06.465-04:00I'm not even a fan of the kind of "medica...I'm not even a fan of the kind of "medical insurance" that we have, LK. That is not where the entrepreneurship is in medical care. <br /><br />Yeah, yeah, anything good that ever was developed ALWAYS is a product of state-sponsored research. Well, if the state is that good at running an economy, then why has socialism been such a failure?William L. Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01802990642236807359noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-41235304195034764402012-07-01T14:39:58.407-04:002012-07-01T14:39:58.407-04:00Correction:
"Eliminating the profit from pr...Correction: <br /><br />"Eliminating the profit from private health care insurance through universal access <b>doesn't</b> mean that "medical entrepreneurship" must suddenly stop."Lord Keyneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06556863604205200159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-10836388289509144142012-07-01T14:38:28.318-04:002012-07-01T14:38:28.318-04:00Eliminating the profit from private health care in...Eliminating the profit from private health care insurance through universal access mean that "medical entrepreneurship" must suddenly stop.<br /><br />And as for the argument about "entrepreneurship", many of the best new drugs and medical technologies came right out of the dynamic state sector or publicly funded research anyway.<br /><br /><br /><i>"It was the USSR that was declared by Beatrice and Sydney Webb to be a new and glorious civilization, and American intellectuals from John Kenneth Galbraith (a favorite of the Left) to Angela Davis praised the economy of that country and its healthcare system."</i><br /><br />Which is irrelevant to the question of universal health care in a Western capitalist nation.<br /><br />Typically, it sounds like you're just grossly ignorant of what goes on outside the US.<br /><br />One of the best health care systems in the world is that of France, where there is universal access <i>and</i> a considerable degree of private provision or medical practice in the system.Lord Keyneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06556863604205200159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-49093159817469919262012-07-01T13:08:57.899-04:002012-07-01T13:08:57.899-04:00Nor is using the USSR or Cuba or even North Korea ...Nor is using the USSR or Cuba or even North Korea the use of "straw men." When I was in college, we heard, "Yeah, the U.S.S.R. can be repressive -- BUT THEY HAVE FREE HEALTHCARE!" Michael Moore held up Cuba as a shining example, even though he was deceptive.<br /><br />He claimed that what he saw was medical care available for all when, in fact, that was the care that was given only to the party elites. I had friends who were in China in the early 1980s, and they saw what normal people had for "free" healthcare, and it was deplorable.<br /><br />Yet, as long as the Iron Curtain existed, we could expect someone to claim that these places were utopias because there was "no unemployment" and "free healthcare." Even now, the so-called "Happiness Index" has Cuba rated very high because it has "free healthcare."William L. Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01802990642236807359noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-60354031029396589022012-07-01T13:05:33.585-04:002012-07-01T13:05:33.585-04:00So, you believe that it is better not to have CAT ...So, you believe that it is better not to have CAT scans and MRIs at all because there might be a concern about who recommends it?<br /><br />Those of us who grew up at a time when our greatest fears were getting polio or other diseases, when there were no such things as brain scans or arthroscopic surgery, or other such things just might have an appreciation for those things created by entrepreneurs. Since they now are commonplace, I guess you are in a position to believe that they are not needed at all.William L. Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01802990642236807359noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-68890318854661462302012-07-01T12:34:04.958-04:002012-07-01T12:34:04.958-04:00'Furthermore, as you know, the law has numerou...'Furthermore, as you know, the law has numerous criminal penalties aimed at medical entrepreneurship, so explain how we advance something when we literally turn the entrepreneur into a criminal. Please explain how this wondrous system works.'<br /><br />I'm unclear what you are referring to here...which provisions of the law do this?<br /><br />As usual, you don't work well in grey areas Anderson. Entrepreneurship in medicine is not always the best thing for the patient. I personally don't want my physician to have the incentive to send me for a CAT scan at a lab in which he has ownership stakes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-6532402437234444122012-07-01T10:29:06.624-04:002012-07-01T10:29:06.624-04:00This was a great piece. Watch for a thriving black...This was a great piece. Watch for a thriving black market for medical care to arise after the government-created shortages make people desperate. Entrepreneurs will turn to the black market where there will still be profit.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-68040043453220364982012-07-01T08:17:23.166-04:002012-07-01T08:17:23.166-04:00Excuse me. It was the USSR that was declared by Be...Excuse me. It was the USSR that was declared by Beatrice and Sydney Webb to be a new and glorious civilization, and American intellectuals from John Kenneth Galbraith (a favorite of the Left) to Angela Davis praised the economy of that country and its healthcare system.<br /><br />Furthermore, the same problems that plagued that system are what we see in Canada and elsewhere, but in smaller degree because of the blatant totalitarianism of the USSR. <br /><br />As for the ad hominem at the end, I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. You are trying to tell me that by adding a huge layer of bureaucracy and regulation to the current system, that out of that will come even more available medical care and superior care in every way to what we have now. Please explain how that happens.<br /><br />Furthermore, as you know, the law has numerous criminal penalties aimed at medical entrepreneurship, so explain how we advance something when we literally turn the entrepreneur into a criminal. Please explain how this wondrous system works.William L. Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01802990642236807359noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276561747841568697.post-72780677944143446512012-07-01T01:13:48.500-04:002012-07-01T01:13:48.500-04:00Brilliant straw man argument here... knocking down...Brilliant straw man argument here... knocking down the former USSR with gusto while ignoring better functioning public health systems in the UK, Canada, etc.<br /><br />PS: Of course health reform does not help you...you are a tenured professor living on the public dole with absolute job security.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com