Medicare, what is seen and what is unseen

My neighbor is an emergency room physician. He works for a company that has about 20 doctors that contract to hospitals. He gets a monthly salary and works a regular day time job.

The other day, a Monday, as he arrived home from work, I asked him how his day went, thinking a week day, daytime shift, would be quiet. He shrugged in dismay and said, "I saw twenty patients, seventeen were over 80"

He said many of these patients were brought to the emergency room after a call to 911.

In 1965 Medicare was enacted. It was a glorious day for the humanitarians. They saw goodness and praised themselves for being so much better than other people. They did not see the bad consequences of their grandiose policies. Frederic Bastiat wrote about the unseen consequences of government policies.

What the Utopian delusionalists failed to see was the results of the birth control pill just a few years before, in 1960, which cause the birth rate to decline, causing many people to grow old, childless, and living alone.

The Utopians failed to see the growth of the State with the use of 911 that would make it normal for old people living alone to call 911 for the most minor problems and be transported to the emergency room. The more calls the State mob received, the larger their budget would be for the following year.

Nor did the Utopians foresee the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe vs Wade, which made abortions easier, again, reducing the number of young people who would support Medicare.

The Utopians also failed to see the advances in medical technology, such as open heart surgery and laparoscopy surgery, that would prolong the lives of old people. Knee and hip replacements were not available in 1965. Many seniors have these surgeries, and cataract surgery, all paid for by Medicare. When the Medicare act was passed the humanitarians had no idea how much their programs would cost. The doctors and hospitals are the big beneficiary. They have plenty of customers, paid for by a third party. Costs of these procedures are never negotiated between doctor and patient.

So now one unseen consequence of another government policy, Medicare, is that too many people are using the health care industry more than is necessary because they don't have to pay for the service. Fewer young people are available to pay for the excesses in Medicare. The Utopians failed to see the percentage of old people in the population would increase.

The problem with government policies is they cannot adapt to changing conditions like a free market can adapt. Government policies might work better in a zero changing society, but no such society exists.

The unseen consequences of Medicare that was enacted in 1965 have created a problem for the U.S. Government. The costs are skyrocketing. The program cannot be sustained in its current form. The government hopes to solve the problem with the universal health care bill. This bill will simply make people pay more for what they are now getting for free in the emergency hospital rooms.

If the government really wants to reduce health care costs they should make it permissible for people to practice medicine without a license and for someone to open a hospital without government approval.

If the government prohibited medical insurance for all except cancer, accidental injuries, or major organic disease, with larger co payments, the cost of medical care would plummet,

Charles Tolleson