Obsession with Laissez Faire (Kelly Leech)

United States was established on the notion of complete freedom and individualism so as to never be under the control of a monarchy again. No wonder Americans are almost obsessed with the idea of no government intervention in society and the laissez faire market. Centuries have passed and immigrants compose a majority of the population probably because of the numerous freedoms. Throughout history, what actually composes human rights has changed – civil rights, women’s rights, gay and lesbian rights, educational rights, employee rights, legal rights, etc. Many Americans opposed the legalization of some of these rights at first, but now these rights are generally accepted in American society.

From the videos, it sounds like this happened in Switzerland – a similarly capitalistic society. Health care wasn’t viewed as a right, but with a vote by a small margin, health care law was passed making it a human right (i.e. universal health care). This is what is happening in the United States right now. Health care, not viewed by the majority as a human right, is trying to legally become one and will be accepted in years to come as history and other countries have shown.

While analyzing the different countries, there was often a mention of how this or that wouldn’t work in the United States. For instance, in Great Britain the presence of government is too much and in Taiwan intervening to notify a patient they’re going to much the doctor is too “Big Brother” for the United States. However, the conclusions were great at the end basically laying out what could work in the United States doing what Taiwan did – choosing the best and most adaptable ideas:

•Insurance companies must accept everyone and there is no profit.
•Everyone is mandated to buy health insurance and the government covers the poor.
•Insurance, providers and pharmaceuticals negotiate on a set of standard price.

I especially like how he also provided a wake-up call that we are already using these “foreign” health care ideas in the United States:

•Veterans = Britain
•Medicare = Taiwan
•Employees insurance = Germany
•Uninsured = poor country

(My favorite is the last category of course ;)

I can see one complaint of a universal health care system in the United States being that health care providers and practitioners would have to accept a lower salary when they work overtime and have medical school debt to pay off. It’s almost like a viscous cycle in which doctors are caught. In Germany, for instance, doctors get paid less, but they went to medical school for free and have lower malpractice premiums so it almost makes up for receiving a lower salary. So if American doctors could go to medical school for free, then it would be more acceptable to receive lower salaries. It’s called thinking upstream!!

We’re caught in a “sick” health care system and desperately need to “cure” it before things get worse. United States needs to put aside its obsession with laissez faire and realize, health care is not functional in an open market, but is a human right and needs to be recognized as so like all other human rights have with some systematic change and societal adjustment.