Health insurance — insuring whom?

There is no free lunch, but apparently many people don’t realize this (or refuse to) when it comes to “insurance.” Arnold Kling writes about how the way the health insurance system works drives up demand, and the real winners are the service providers. Either the “buck gets passed” or the “check is split,” but someone has to pay the bill! This is also why socialized medicine is bound for failure: it artificially prices services below market, creating demands that cannot be met by the supply. Witness the long queues Canadian people have to endure in order to get medical service. It is also becoming apparent that the Taiwanese system is headed for the same destiny. Sure, in the short term some needy people benefit from the system, but in the long run everyone suffers (except, of course, for the elite governing class). What’s the point of having universal health insurance coverage when it results in low-quality or no service? I’ll probably see God before I get to see a doctor.

UPDATE (16:06 28-Sep-2004): During my daily workout I saw a TV footage of the Kerry campaign with signs saying “affordable healthcare.” Whom are these people kidding? Trial lawyers such as John Edwards have tremendously added to the cost of healthcare (if not destroyed it) in this country. Read about how Edwards got his filthy lucres by flakey science and emotional appeals to juries (Thomas Sowell). Again: there is no free lunch. The doctors’ insurers paid the lawyers; the doctors’ premiums get raised; fewer doctors would choose risky specialties (such as OB/GYN); cost inevitably rises. These guys are idiots: there is no such thing as “affordable healthcare” if leftists such as John-John become in charge. Yeah, you get the affordable part (thanks to other hardworking taxpayers), but no healthcare.