Reliable wise man Charles Krauthammer has a great piece in today's WaPo on the topic of health care, making the point that under Obama's plan, there will be rationing. As people gather for the biennial debate over health care policy, there is one mantra they should repeat over and over again:
"There is no 'blank check,' universal coverage health care system in the world."
Let's try that again:
"There is no 'blank check,' universal coverage health care system in the world."
One only need to cast their eyes northward to Canada to see that the median waiting time there for surgical or other therapeutic treatment now exceeds 17 weeks. The UK, too, is famous for its waiting list of people waiting to get on the waiting list for treatment. No joke.
Congress isn't very good at delivering the bad medicine -- the spinach, in Krauthammer's terms. They promise, promise, promise. Everything will be better - and cheaper. Truth is, with mandated universal coverage comes rationing -- not sometimes, but always. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad choice, but we need to make that choice with our eyes wide open.
There is no "blank check," universal coverage health care system in the world.