The invisible hand with the extended finger

[eridani]

http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/119182/?page=entire

Discussing some of the health care proposals under discussion, Dr. Young offered, “The ‘incremental’ plans put forth by some activists are idiotic. Every year companies try to off-load more of the cost of health benefits onto workers. I just hope that when Obama gets into office he quickly says ‘The situation is much worse than I thought. We need single-payer insurance now.’ What’s more likely, though,” Dr. Young observed, “is we will start hearing some baloney like, ‘Don’t worry, the public plan is so much better that it will eventually win out over the private one.’”

Referring to past proposals that maintained the central role of insurance companies, Dr. Young pointed to Hillary Clinton’s plan early in her husband’s first term and charged, “The only thing worse than the crushing defeat it got would have been if it was enacted.”

“You know, we hear so much about the wonders of the free market -- that invisible hand with the extended finger…” Young mused, and then took the next question.

Health care costs a total of $2.5 trillion dollars in the U.S., or 1/6 of the country’s entire Gross Domestic Product, Dr. Young said. He briefly described two of the reasons for the high cost: overspecialization and high administrative overhead.