The nature of a lie is such that if you repeat it enough it takes on a life of its own, always at the expense of truth. So it is with lies spoken in defense of single-payer health care, also known as national health care.
Truth is, with single-payer health care, government becomes the insurance company and, by all the studies done, would need to collect billions of dollars of new taxes. Since no system can satisfy unlimited demand, single-payer would control costs by rationing medical services, technology, and prescription drugs. At risk for the greatest amount of rationing are those folks who use health care the most–senior citizens.
Rationing health care is the single most common complaint in countries like Canada and England, where waiting for timely care can take as long as 12 months. High taxes, rationing, and long waits–those are the hallmarks of socialized medicine.
If we are to make informed choices about what trade-offs we are willing to make in our quest for universal health care, we need the truth … not single-payer lies.
IT’S YOUR HEALTH is written by Conrad Meier, senior fellow in health policy at The Heartland Institute. This program is produced as a public service by Radio America. Meier passed away unexpectedly on March 18, 2005.
