A fascinating little chart of inflation rates for goods and services over the past couple of decades.
As a little test, which things does the government control, price, create a cartel in or allow a cartel in? And which are subject to the terrors of proper free market competition?
No, American health care is not a vicious free market, it’s a cartel, just for those trying to pay attention at home.
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The US government also sets prices for most of the health industry through Medicare and Medicaid rates coupled with laws that require a provider to do so regardless of ability to pay.
Did you fail to notice that UK healthcare is not a free market either? Massive amounts of regulation on the so-called private sector (some of which is nominally but not actually applied to the NHS). The Daily Wail had a front-page article yesterday about the massive subsidy paid by self-funding residents (or their families) in residential care homes to the local authorities who pay for other residents: allegedly £21k pa or 36.8%
I don't understand this horror of having to sell the home you're moving out of in order to fund the home you're moving into. That's happened every single time I've moved house, I would be amazed if I was allowed to do so without having to sell the old place to pay for the next place.
My wife and kids are quite aware that if my wife and/or I have to go into residential care then I think that any cost not covered by my pension should be recovered from the sale of the house that I/we shall no longer need.
What I was pointing out is that the UK healthcare service is NOT a free market with the monopsonist local authorities able to screw the independent providers. Almost all of those respond by screwing the self-funders with a significant minority going bankrupt despite screwing the self-funders. A tiny minority who are able to fill all their places refuse to subsidise local authorities; an even tinier minority have marketing departments that get relatives to persecute local authorities into paying far too much for "special cases"
Well I'm sorry, but when I started work in the mid 70's, the Government sent me a little card with a number on it. 'National Insurance' number it was called.
Upon further investigation I discovered that the Government would take a chunk of MY money each week to cover the costs of any healthcare I needed, provide a pension in my old age (although at that point I thought the age of 25 was one foot in the grave...) and cover the costs of any care I needed in old age. No choice, no option, I must pay. Well they've had my money, now don't want to honour their side of the contract.
Now I don't see too many car insurers stating they won't be paying all the
costs for repairing the car when your 11 months into your policy but got
a couple of quid in the bank, so why should the Government?
And lastly, perhaps if they hadn't allowed so many to be bone idle and live off
benefits all their lives or so much chain migration of old people we wouldn't be in the state we are.