Today, we're going to look at that evil competition thing. I use the word "evil" because that's how the progressive socialists view competition, and that is how competition is being taught to our children in many public schools these days. Okay, maybe they don't call it "evil," but they do constantly disparage competition through both word and example. But I will go into that in more detail in a future post. Right now, I want to focus on how competition can make our current healthcare system better.
The first way would be to restore what our Founders believed to be one of the most fundamental aspects of the USA: that our Republic is a union of (currently 50) individual states, not a nation-state divided into administrative regions. The Xth Amendment to the Constitution states, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to it by the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." In simple terms, it says that, if the Constitution doesn't specifically say the Federal Government has jurisdiction over something, then the citizens of each State can make their own decisions about how to handle a particular subject. In other words, the States were to be allowed to have their own community standards, their own 'flavor,' as long as what they did did not violate the Constitution. The Liberty of American citizens allowed them to 'vote with their feet' on the environments of the individual States; i.e. they were free to up and move themselves and their businesses out of States with oppressive or untenable environments and go to States that have a more favorable environment without having to apply for permission or visas. The only requirement was that they were expected to follow the local laws of their new home.
Over the last 40 years, however, there have been incremental steps toward marginalizing the Xth Amendment and homogenizing the States until they are indistinguishable, one from the other. As our country has been slowly marched toward an all-powerful central national government, the States have been forced into a 'one size fits all' mentality in many issues. Every time one of our 'political heroes' calls for us to 'level the playing field' or 'lower the bar' to correct some perceived inequity, it ends up as a lowering of standards and an attempt to bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator.
You are probably asking, "What does this Civics lesson have to do with Healthcare?" Well, over the last 75 - 80 years, the professional political class that has arisen in our Republic has stifled competition in both healthcare coverage and delivery in pretty much every State. Lobbyists have managed to get laws passed in each State that favors only a handful of the hundreds of insurance companies. (Look back at my analysis of the Affordability of Healthcare.) And remember what the State of New York did to Dr. Muney when he tried to offer his patients a low-cost subscription service? What We the People need to do is make it clear to our representatives in government that we are tired of them pandering to special interest groups and that they need to start representing the People and upholding the Constitution. What this means to Healthcare is an end to special-interest set-asides and corporate welfare that stifles competition. The extent of government interference in any commerce venture should be limited to these questions:
- "Do any of the tenets of the contract or business agreement put public safety or health in jeopardy?"
- "Do the contractual obligations defined in the contract or business agreement violate the Constitution or any Laws?"
- "Have any of the parties in this contract violated the terms of the contract?"
Beyond that, the various levels of government have no business interfering in what is essentially a matter of Commerce; i.e. the relationship between a citizen, their insurance company, and the healthcare providers. If this were the environment in which the healthcare industry were allowed to reside, it would thrive and we would probably see healthcare costs drop by at least 17%, possibly as much as 27%. Getting rid of special-interest set-asides would permit competition amongst all of the medical insurance providers in every State.
When this sort of open competition is in place, the Citizens would once again be able to "vote with their feet" and the State with the best, most cost-effective offerings would be the winner.
Next time, more on Competition.
Until then, best regards...
© James P. Rice 2011, 2014
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