A Question Of Faith

posted at 5:06 pm on October 15, 2009 by Doctor Zero

Suppose a billionaire, with extensive investments in health insurance, medical equipment, and pharmaceuticals, purchases some television time to make America a proposal: pay him five hundred billion dollars, and he will provide every American citizen with health insurance. His plan is still under development by a brilliant team of experts, working in seclusion, but he asks us not to worry about the details – he guarantees he can deliver what he promises, with no danger of cost overruns. His proposed contract with the government includes incentives for exceeding quality expectations, along with penalties for poor performance, and the government would have the right to cancel the contract at any time.

Participation in his plan would be voluntary, as the billionaire assures us we could keep our existing health insurance, if we prefer. He points out that since much of his fortune comes from medical technology and pharmaceuticals, he has every incentive to keep his end of the bargain and deliver on his promises. He certainly wouldn’t want to destroy the medical industry that makes him wealthy!

What do you imagine the reaction to this astonishing offer would be? I would expect a tidal wave of ridicule and outrage. A $500 billion contract would make this wealthy businessman’s operation bigger than Microsoft, which has about $50 billion in annual sales worldwide. What obscene profits this guy would collect! And how could we possibly trust some smooth-talking, greedy billionaire with our health care… especially when he says the details are still being hammered out behind closed doors? What about the massive conflicts of interest he would have, since he’s already heavily invested in the medical industry? What the heck does some high-rolling entrepreneur know about medicine, anyway? He’s not even a doctor!

You might have guessed what I’m going to say next: it’s equally absurd to place that kind of trust in a gang of politicians. I would go even further than that. It’s more absurd to trust the politicians. We’d be far better off trusting the billionaire.

Are you worried about the size of a business operation opening its doors with a $500 billion contract? That’s nothing compared to the scale of the federal government, which has a budget of $3.6 trillion for 2009. The health care plan which cleared the Senate Finance Committee anticipates costs of nearly $900 billion, and government plans never come in for anywhere near their projected cost. If the government says it needs $900 billion, it will probably need at least triple that much, by the time all is said and done.. I’m more inclined to trust a proposal from a private company, especially if there are incentives for them to honor it. By contrast, the worst thing Congress has to worry about is a 5% dip in their 90% incumbency re-election rate.

What kind of people would our billionaire put in charge of that gigantic health care plan? Do you think he might choose a tax cheat, a 9/11 Troofer moron, or someone cozy with the North American Man-Boy Love Association, as President Obama has done with previous cabinet positions and czars? What percentage of large private corporations have hiring practices as lousy as this Administration?

Our billionaire’s conflicts of interest are no greater than those facing Congress. The medical industry includes operations in many states and districts. Unions and other special-interest groups have enormous influence with the political class. Very few members of Congress have a medical background. What makes them any more immune to conflicts of interest, or any more knowledgeable about medicine, than a business tycoon?

Do you recoil from the idea of a billionaire raking in huge profits from this health-care contract? You must realize that corrupt Congressmen, and members of this Administration, accumulate fantastic personal fortunes during their time in office. People like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd made millions while they set the subprime crisis in motion. They defended Fannie Mae for ideological reasons, but also because it was a major cash cow. Anyone who retains a shred of belief in the superior virtue of politicians is well-advised to read Michelle Malkin’s Culture of Corruption. Those politicians are no less greedy than the most rapacious capitalist – they’re just more sanctimonious, and less efficient. Their lust for power equals, or exceeds, their financial greed. The pursuit of dollars never causes as much damage as the hunger for pages from the history books.

Some would be horrified at the prospect of gambling our health care with an eccentric businessman. The truth is that private enterprise is always less of a gamble than government programs, because it’s much easier to control or terminate a private contract. Government programs are eternal – even the worst of them are extremely difficult to kill. It’s hard enough to simply reduce their budgets… in fact, it can be brutally difficult to reduce the rate of increase in their budgets. I’ve always found it absurd when liberals present private-sector plans as “risky schemes,” when Big Government is the real gamble, and you’re chained to the card table while it deals busted flushes.

The difference in popular reaction to the hypothetical billionaire’s proposal, versus the reality of the government’s ambitions to take over the health-insurance industry, comes down to a question of faith. Much of the American population retains a remarkable degree of faith in the good intentions and benevolence of politicians, in defiance of the long track record of corruption and utter failure for big government programs. Perhaps some of this is due to an emotional confusion between the country and its government, as if losing faith in Congress or the White House would be equivalent to losing faith in America.

The benefit of the doubt given to politicians is a dangerous superstition. When the government exceeds its essential duties, and begins taking control of industries, the referees are leaping onto the field and tackling the players. In fact, they’re taking the players down at gunpoint. The government demands you take a great deal on faith – far more than even the most eccentric businessman. The most unrealistic part of our health care thought experiment is the idea that we’d be expected to let the billionaire’s people write their health-care plan behind closed doors, without worrying our little heads about the details. No contractor would pitch the biggest bid of his life with such ridiculous expectations… but that is exactly what President Obama and the Democrats expect from you. In fact, they demand it.

You might object that our hypothetical health-care mogul could turn out to be a fool, or a crook. He might rack up tremendous cost over-runs, discovering that his $500 billion bid was far too low… and the government might tear open that cushion full of tax dollars, and begin stuffing more billions into his hands. You’d be wise to express those concerns. I would suggest the only reliable way to address them is to place your trust in neither politicians nor billionaires, and demand the right to control your own health insurance. Make providers fight for your business, let the markets keep them efficient, insist the government keep them honest, and spare yourself the trillion-dollar betrayal of a faith you should never allow anyone to require from you.

Blowback