“Free” Health Care
This morning on ABC there was a story about a group of doctors in Los Angeles that had decided to offer free medical care to the first 1500 people through the door. Is that a good idea? Sure, why not. It was their choice to do so and their money to burn; it’s a free country. The kicker is that they were SWAMPED with people (far more than the 1500 showed up) and people were waiting all night for a place in line to get a coveted ticket. Now, I’m sure that many if not most of those people had legitimate reasons to be in line and perhaps some relatively serious medical issues, but I think we can still say that this is a pretty good illustration of what happens when medical care is advertised as “free”. People will show up to take advantage of what they perceive as a free ride whether they really need it or not. I would be willing to bet that there were plenty of people in that line that were actually in financial need (and for that reason I applaud the doctors and medical professionals involved), but I am also of the mind that there were probably some freeloaders in the line. This is really a microcosm of what will eventually happen if the Congress passes this ABYSMAL health care plan that is on the board right now. Once the private insurers are out of the way (and that WILL happen under this legislation regardless what the president says), the public option will rule and everyone will be on the same coverage… meaning anyone can go to the doctor for any minor illness or injury. No matter the reason, they will show up, because it’s free… they don’t have to worry about the consequences at all. Got a runny nose, go see a doctor. Got a small cut, go see a doctor… you see what I mean. There are so many other ways to solve this issue. Even giving money to hospitals to cover people that don’t have health care under certain circumstances would be more palatable that this…
Anyway, that’s my quick observation on it…