Thank you, Charlie, for an insightful article on how far health insurance has strayed from its original intent.
Attorney Lin Zinser and I have written an article on health care history and policy that also covers many of these issues, including the destructive effects of government policies (such as benefits mandates, guaranteed issue, and other mandates) have had on the insurance industry.
It’s entitled “Moral Health Care vs. ‘Universal Health Care’” and it recently appeared in the Winter 2007-2008 issue of the journal, “The Objective Standard”.
We argue that the current crisis in American health care is the result of decades of government interference and violations of individual rights in health insurance and medicine. Hence the only moral and practical solution to the problem is not more government controls but instead to gradually and systematically transition to a rights-respecting, fully free market in those industries.
The full text of the article is available online for free at:
http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/issues/2007-winter/moral-vs-universal-health-care.asp
or http://tinyurl.com/25zffu.
Paul Hsieh, MD
E-mail: paulhsiehmd(at)gmail(dot)com
Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine: http://www.WeStandFIRM.org
