The word on the street is that the Feds are searching doggedly to find a way to shift to the states the burden of paying for the medical services of an aging populace. That's like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Unless the freedom that comes with informed choice, as envisioned by the framers of our Constitution, is re-established, the fall will be complete and inevitable. Someone will argue that medicine is too technical, that mere lay people cannot really make an informed choice. The same could be said of education and legal services, but we do make those choices.
Medicine stands alone among American institutions as the last bastion of cultural authority.
The Cat scanner and the stethoscope have assumed an almost sacramental character, and we assume that professional judgment always outshines personal judgment. The evidence presented above will, I hope, cause us to question that assumption. Realistically speaking, a return to privately paying for medical care has about as much chance of success in the current political environment as re-instituting capital punishment for homosexuality. With some radical reforms, there is no reason that a free people should not be able to pool their risks against catastrophic events in their lives. One of the cardinal rules of insurance, however, states that insurance should not increase the hazard.