Obamagrams for All

The controversy over how often women should get mammograms illustrates the folly of this administration’s one-size-fits-all approach to medical care. People want guaranteed “universal” coverage, which only the government can enforce. And if government is going to enforce it, government is going to decide how often women get mammograms, not to mention many other critical procedures. He who finances and subsidizes gets to decide. People don’t want a free market in medicine — but they still want the benefits of a free market in medicine. One of those benefits is that doctors and patients decide, case-by-case, what makes most sense for the patient. In a free market, private insurers have to consider the needs of insured patients (their paying clients) while monopolistic government “programs” do not. Cost is, of course, part of the factor in a free market, but do people seriously think that cost somehow magically goes away when government pays for and runs everything? That’s not how it works under Medicare, and that won’t be how it works under Medicare-For-All, possibly to be be signed into law any time. This is America’s last chance to reject the proven horrors of government-run medicine and begin a course reversal back to a free market in medicine. Those who blindly support government’s takeover of medicine will deserve every bit of stress when, at some future time, they are denied a mammogram or some other important, preventative medical test.