Saturday, September 26, 2009

Emergency Health Care...Welfare?

"Those who are most in need of low-cost care are forced out of the market in the name of social justice." -Evan Wondolowski

Emergency rooms across the country are required to provide services to everyone regardless of their ability to pay. You won't hear President Obama reminding us of this! This requirement on ER's is known as the "free-rider" problem to many.

"The free-rider problem in ER care is not a market failure, but a government failure. The Hippocratic Oath notwithstanding, hospitals only accept all patients irrespective of their ability to pay because they are required to by government regulations. These laws, which are in place in countries around the planet, result in a simple welfare scheme whereby the costs of the uninsured are transferred to insured patients. With this reality in mind, it is easy to see that the free-rider problem in ER services is not a market failure, but rather a government failure." - Eric Staib

Intentions aside, health care COSTS are inflated by government intrusion into the system.

How then would a free market handle this?

I'll defer to the Misus Institute for the response.

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