Health Club

How will they hear
When will they learn
How will they know
--Madonna

Here is the smartest punch list for health care 'reform' that I've seen. The 4 elements that Professor Hoppe proposes are:

1) Eliminate all medical licensing requirements. Supply will rapidly increase and prices will fall. If buyers feel the need for some credentialing, then voluntary competing agencies will form.

This measure will increase search costs among health care consumers and drive more discerning choice.

2) Eliminate government restrictions on production and sale of health care products. No more FDA et al. Prices will fall and variety will increase.

Once again, this puts onus on the consumer to engage in more risk assessment. To the extent that consumer desire more information from producers, those sellers will be motivated to provide it in order to make sales.

3) De-regulate health insurance. Only private industry is capable of prudently insuring risk. Conditions that are not insurable will not be covered. Prices will fall; variety of insurance policies will increase.

4) Eliminate all subsidies to the sick and unhealthy. Subsidies create more of what is being subsidized. Eliminating subsidies increases motivation to live healthy lives.

The idea is to put market forces back in play. Despite what bureaucrats claim, our current health care system, and the system being proposed, is most certainly not market based.