At 06:39 PM Thursday 10/30/2008, John Williams wrote: >Nick Arnett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > Some rules, of course, if the aim is universal health care. That doesn't > > make the government the provider or administrator of the service. > >If all the money has to go through the government, it is inevitable >that a large >and complicated set of rules will be created, modified, amended, and grown >to frightening degree.
See frex the "Federal" money Washington "gives" to school systems: talk to the principal or other administrators in your local school or school district about the regulations they must follow and paperwork they must submit in order to get the money. In higher education, there are colleges and universities which have chosen not to participate in Federal financial aid programs for their students because the money comes with strings which the administration finds unacceptable. Or consider frex when the minimum legal drinking age was raised back to 21 after being at 18 for a few years: the Feds told the states that any state which did not pass a law raising the drinking age to 21 would have its Federal highway funds cut off. IOW, if the money goes through Washington, Washington will dictate how those who receive it must do business in order to keep receiving money. >These rules will constrain both the suppliers and the consumers, and will >effectively result in inefficient government control of health care. >It will create >a system devoid of the give and take of consumers shopping around trying >to find the best supplier for what they need at the best price, and suppliers >competing and innovating to provide the consumers what they need. Instead >the government will oversee some bloated, generalized menu of products >that does not meet the needs of many consumers and offers little incentive >for the suppliers to innovate to meet the needs of the consumers. >This is what >happens when the government gets involved involved in a complicated system. >There is no way for the government to replace the specific knowledge and time >of millions of consumers and thousands of suppliers individually >interacting in >order to continuously evolve a system that meets the needs of all the players. > > > Government can set rules without taking operational control of an industry. > >It could happen. So could a meteor taking out New York on Halloween. >I'm not holding my breath. . . . ronn! :) _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
