Bob Blick wrote:
> But I can share something that may help some of you understand why I may
> seem more sensitive than others.
>
> Earlier this year I helped save a man's life. One of the other tenants
> where I work burst into my office and said "come quick, Steve's hurt
> bad"(His name isn't really Steve). He was laying dead of a heart attack
> just inside the large courtyard of the business complex my office is in.
> I gave Steve CPR while my neighbor called emergency services(911). About
> six or seven minutes later a fire truck with paramedics showed up and
> took over. A few minutes after that an ambulance came. They gave Steve a
> hypodermic in the chest and also jolts of electricity and got his heart
> going and off they went to the hospital where he spent three weeks in
> intensive care and another two in the cardiac center after having an
> implanted defibrillator. He's doing fine now and scheduled for a bypass
> operation soon. Steve is a small business owner and in today's economy
> has lots of debt and almost no income and has no health insurance. But
> he has gone through the paperwork to be declared indigent and his
> medical bills are going to be paid by the state.
>
> If any of the Vitaliy's social or economic policies had been in place,
> Steve would be dead today. Either there would be no emergency phone
> number, the firemen wouldn't have been trained paramedics or would have
> refused to come, the ambulance wouldn't pick him up because he had no
> means to pay, the hospital would have refused him, he wouldn't have
> gotten the defibrillator, or he would have committed suicide because of
> the $729,000 final medical bill(yes, I saw it, it really was $729,000).
>
> So I don't want to hear about Libertarian politics. My friend is alive
> today, and they'd have him dead.

The above is a gross misrepresentation of my views that I feel I must=20
respond to.

People who believe in personal freedom and individual responsibility, are=20
not evil. I feel compassion for the fellow man, and help those in need to=20
the best of my ability, when I get the opportunity.

Where we differ, is on the role of the state in helping people. While it ma=
y=20
sound good in theory, the unintended consequences quickly wipe out any=20
benefits. Take the $729,000 bill, for example. Just think about it: what=20
could the hospital have done to Steve, to rack up such insane bill? Why do=
=20
things cost so much?*

The usual explanation (espoused even by some economists I respect) is that=
=20
technology is driving up the cost. New machines, new technologies, computer=
s=20
everywhere. We get better quality care, we are told, that is why healthcare=
=20
is more expensive today. This sounds plausible, until you consider that=20
everywhere else technology made things *cheaper*: cars, industrial=20
automation, cell phones, etc. Home PC prices are falling even though they=20
are getting ever more powerful.

I struggled with this question for a while, and it wasn't long ago that I=20
understood the reason behind the rising costs: state subsidies. It may soun=
d=20
like a paradox, but you don't need to understand economics beyond the basic=
=20
law supply&demand to see how this works. When someone else pays for your=20
healthcare, you don't care how the money is spent, and neither does your=20
doctor, who in fact may have the incentive to prescribe very expensive test=
s=20
& procedures even when much cheaper options are available (you would pick=20
them yourself, if you were paying for the care with your money). State=20
subsidies of healthcare (Medicare, Medicaid) thus create more demand, and=20
since the supply of healthcare, prices go through the roof.

If "my" social/economic policies had been in place, everybody would be more=
=20
prosperous, and healthcare would cost a fraction of what it does today. Eve=
n=20
if Steve was broke, his friends could easily chip in and pay for his medica=
l=20
bills. It would constitute true charity, as opposed to the phony charity=20
which involves doing good at someone else's expense (under the threat of, o=
r=20
actual use of, violence).

Vitaliy

*Earlier this year my newborn contracted a bad case of MRSA=20
(http://tinyurl.com/nikmrsa) that landed him in the hospital. Whenever we=20
would ask how much something cost, we would get strange looks from the=20
nurses, and even the billing department couldn't give us clear answers.=20
Finally, we got a cost breakdown, and learned that Tylenol costs $10 per=20
pill, and that the hospital charges $300/day for a tiny room that my son=20
shared with another patient. Supply and demand.=20

--=20
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