20 November 2008
Mandates versus Entitlements
What is it in the American psyche that prefers government mandates to entitlements as a citizen?
Why do Americans not grow up assuming that institutions for health care are essential to "... life, liberty and the pursuit of happines" unlike those who live in Europe and most of Asia?
Why don't Americans link their own health with their inalienable rights to lives or living, liberty and their pursuits of happiness?
Why is health care considered separately from functions of the public health portfolio as formed by politicians considering legislation?
How can the economy, local and federal government (and the judiciary) allow private insurance companies to control the quality of public health in the United States?
Why are the costs of medical care always increasing at rates several times higher than the economy's inflation rate?
Is the health care industry [ insurance companies, hospitals and clinics, pharmaceuticals, specialty equipment, specialty technology for diagnosis and treatment] anti-competitive throughout or only in some ways?
Do the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) contribute to the health care industry's anti-competitive nature by their regulation of research, development and approval for sale of drugs by brand versus generic manufacturing and merchandizing?
Why did the candidates for President state their proposals assuming the primacy of participation by private insurance companies' products?
Why does the California Nurses Association state that the union will not support any health care reform that includes private insurance companies, yet the SEIU, the Service Employees International Union, supports the proposals from the Obama/Biden Administration?
Labels: health care public Obama/Biden competitive markets anti-competitive
