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From City Journal comes this explanation of the costs of that marvelous “free” French health care that is consuming ever larger portions of the French budget and the French GDP, now to the point that it is becoming politically unsustainable as well as economically chronically debilitating. There is a reason why even Europe’s “wealthy” countries have the standard of living of Mississippi, and it has nothing to do with the problems that plague Mississippi. The point here isn’t that American health care is free. To the individual they may cost roughly the same in direct taxes. But it is in indirect or less visible taxes, that the French pay more. The higher unemployment rate that is a drag on overall productivity is another social and economic cost. Finally, the more systems rely on government mandates and control (ours included) the less choice there is. So there is more choice if you pay your doctor directly or if there were a more competitive insurance industry with interstate competition and fewer government mandates on coverage; less choice (due to cost and benefit structure) if you have an insurance PPO plan; less choice than that if you have an HMO plan; less choice than that (due to doctor scarcity and cost structure) if you have Medicare; less choice than that if you use the VA; less choice for more people at higher cost if you get ObamaCare.
HT: Misunderstood Finance Blogspot
“The facts of life are conservative.” - Margaret Thatcher
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