Posted by
ProudAmericanJesusFreak on Sunday, November 09, 2008 12:12:34 PM
by Michael F. Cannonof the CATO Institute
Democratic presidential elect Barack
Obama has proposed an ambitious plan to
restructure America’s health care sector. Rather
than engage in a detailed critique of Obama’s
health care plan, many critics prefer to label it
"socialized medicine." Is that a fair description of
the Obama plan and similar plans? Over the past
year, prominent media outlets and respectable
think tanks have investigated that question and
come to a unanimous answer: no.
Those investigations leave much to be desired.
Indeed, they are little more than attempts to convince
the public that policies generally considered
socialist really aren’t.
A reasonable definition of socialized medicine
is possible. Socialized medicine exists to the extent that
government controls medical resources and socializes the
costs. Notice that under this definition, it is irrelevant
whether we describe medical resources (e.g.,
hospitals, employees) as "public" or "private."
What matters-what determines real as opposed
to nominal ownership-is who controls the
resources. By that definition, America’s health sector
is already more than half socialized, and
Obama’s health care plan would socialize medicine
even further.
Reasonable people can disagree over whether
Obama’s health plan would be good or bad.
But to suggest that it is not a step toward socialized
medicine is absurd.
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The mission of the Cato Institute is to increase the understanding of
public policies based on the principles of limited government, free
markets, individual liberty, and peace. The Institute will use the most
effective means to originate, advocate, promote, and disseminate
applicable policy proposals that create free, open, and civil societies
in the United States and throughout the world.
Michael F. Cannon is director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute (www.cato.org) and coauthor of Healthy Competition: What’s Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It.