Living Under Government Healthcare
It looks like Americans are going to have to learn to live under a government-run medical system. For several decades, the U.S. Congress has been passing laws which control more and more medical decisions — forcing health care costs to rise. In addition, the executive branch has created hundreds of thousands of “rules” which health care providers must follow. The government takeover of medicine in the United States was more than 50% completed before Barack Obama was elected.
As with most government projects, U.S. health care has been inefficient and expensive. The government is responding in the way they always do; they are demanding more money and more power. Unfortunately, this demand for more money and more power does not have to be approved by the American people. The President and the Congress, as our elected representatives, can reach into our pockets for more money without our consent. Similarly, they can grant themselves more power and then force us to request relief from the Supreme Court.
The current efforts of Congress and the Obama Administration to nationalize healthcare in the U.S. are almost certain to pass. The Democrats hold majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. If the Democratic Party can only get itself organized, it can take full control of another aspect of American’s lives.
Once we accept the inevitability of this loss of control, the problem for Americans becomes one of learning how to best survive under the new system. Anyone who has ever visited the Department of Motor Vehicles should have a pretty good picture of what nationalized medicine looks like. Luckily, Americans some good strategies for working around this latest insult to their freedom.
Shortage of Good Doctors
The best doctors are strong-minded and strong-willed individuals who chose to become doctors based upon the freedom and financial advantages provided by the profession. As health care becomes more and more nationalized, many of these individuals will change professions or choose early retirement. In addition, fewer of these individuals will choose to enter the medical field in the future. Instead, the government will replace them with a new generation of doctors who are chosen by bureaucrats and politicians for their willingness to work under supervision, their political reliability, and their qualifications under government racial and gender quotas.
This is not the end of the world. Americans travelled to the new world, and across the new world, with very few doctors. Our pioneering ancestors were there own doctors in most cases, and we will be again.
Luckily, we have an important tool available to us which our ancestors lacked — the World Wide Web. Web sites like WebMD, What Pain, and Medical Symptoms Guide make self-diagnosis far easier than ever before.
Offshore Pharmacies
With more limited access to doctors who can prescribe drugs, Americans are going to have to become more resourceful in gaining access to life-extending medicines.
Offshore pharmacies are one coping mechanism for this. Not all medicines are available from these pharmacies, but many of the basic and most popular medicines are. Don’t attempt to order pain meds overseas — those are closely monitored by the U.S. government.
Medical Tourism
Citizens of many other nations routinely cross borders to receive quality health care. This has not been necessary for Americans except in a cases where the FDA has dragged it’s feet approving cutting-edge medicines and procedures.
The coming changes in American healthcare will cause medical tourism to become much more popular. For many advanced procedures, the cost of flying halfway around the globe is far less than the cost savings from using a private hospital in a more freedom-friendly country.
In October, I had my appendix removed at the Gleneagles private hospital in Singapore. The care I received was top notch and far less expensive than comparable care in the United States. Panama is another excellent choice for medical tourism. The Hospital Punta Pacifica is a world-class facility which is operated in partnership with Johns Hopkins.
Summary
What this all boils down to is this: It’s your health and your life.
No rational independent human being can rely upon bureaucrats and politicians to make decisions for them. Your health is your responsibility.
