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Jens 'n' Frens
Idle thoughts of a relatively libertarian Republican in Cambridge, MA, and whomever he invites. Mostly political.
"A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures."
-- Daniel Webster
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Tuesday, November 11, 2014 :::
We all instantly recognize that it would be a disaster if we collectively decided that the way all cars should be purchased would be by having a job with a company that will provide you a car (with a tax break, and if you lose your job, you lose your car), and an insurer that will pay for gas and oil. Should you not be able to get a car that way, the government will buy you a car.
That point is, I would think, sufficiently obvious that you wouldn't read an article whose sole contribution is that, but I kind of liked this analogy for some reason.
Readers here may also be aware that
As the economist Robin Hanson wrote, "It has long been nearly a consensus among those who have reviewed the relevant studies that differences in aggregate medical spending show little relation to differences in health, compared to other factors like exercise or diet."
The reason for reading the article — or at least the first half or so of it — is for the case studies.
How can Singapore accomplish what must be referred to as, insofar as such things exist in the public policy realm, a miracle? The central design principle of the Singapore system is that it puts as many health decisions as possible in the hands of the consumer — and this includes having the consumer pay for his own decisions.
It is, to be sure, not a fully hands-off system; people are required to save money for health expenditures, Robin Hanson's point notwithstanding; it sounds, in fact, far more politically possible in the United States than a more hands-off system would.
::: posted by dWj at 7:56 AM
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