The Healthcare Crisis

Any accurate discussion of the healthcare problem must include the damaging effect of State licensing requirements for doctors. State licensing requirements for doctors artificially drive up the cost of health care. The AMA is a licensing union and cartel that, in collusion with the State, restricts the supply of medical care. If you mention the health care crisis and don't mention this point, you are pro-State trolling.

FDA regulation also restricts the type of medical treatment available. Most new disease "treatments" are merely drugs that suppress the symptoms without addressing the underlying problem. The most notable example is anti-psychotic and anti-depressant drugs. I've also noticed the same problem with anti-arthritis drugs in my grandmother; she doesn't feel joint pain, but she can't walk or move either. The anti-arthritis drugs mask the symptom of arthritis pain, but don't correct the problem that her joints are wearing out.

Allegedly, many promising treatments that threaten the pharmaceutical industry's business model have been blocked by the FDA.

Another damaging factor is State regulation of the medical insurance market. Insurance companies are barred from charging sick or high-risk people more. The result is higher premiums for everyone. A healthy person might make the rational decision to forego health care, rather than pay a stiff premium. Then, only sick people purchase insurance. The tax break for employer-paid health insurance means that most employees get health insurance via their employer. The true cost of health insurance is then hidden from most workers, in the same way that the employer-paid portion of Social Security and Medicare tax is hidden from most workers.

Another damaging factors is that doctors are paid based on work performed, rather than the actual health of your patient. Instead of agreeing to pay your doctor $50/month directly, your doctor gets paid by the insurance company based on "procedures" done. (or the State via Medicare/Medicaid) For example, if your doctor recommends a test you don't really need, he gets paid more. If your doctor performs unnecessary surgery, he gets paid for doing it anyway (and you can't normally prove afterwards it was unnecessary). This leads to the bizarre practice of the psychiatry/death industry keeping patients drugged up and prisoner, while milking them for Medicaid payments via the State.

All the problems of healthcare in the USA can be explained by "lack of free market" rather than "We need more government!" You cannot reasonably say "The free market health care system in the USA is a failure!" while you have restrictive State licensing requirements for doctors. When discussing healthcare, the mainstream media ignores the damaging effect of State licensing requirements and State regulations.