Federal Health Care Bureaucracy
The proposed Federal Health Care legislation creates a bureaucracy illustrated by the following diagram:
There are three ways to fund this plan:
- Increase taxes,
- Reduce Health Care Services,
- Increase Life Insurance Premiums, then tax them.
The U.S. Founders believed Health Care is the responsibility of the individual families and states, not the federal government. The federal government would create a bureaucratic monopoly on health care, ending innovation and causing rationing. This is rooted in a psychology of dependence and would be funded by a ponzi scheme, neither of which are socially beneficial.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, Version 4.0 argues that the principle of subsidiarity should be applied. The highest level of government that should be involved is that of individual states, because “when states compete the people win.” By competing for residents, competition between states would allow people to “vote with their feet.”
According to the principle of subsidiary, all departments on this chart, except for Treasury Department, the Veterans Administration, and the Department of Defense could be abolished at the federal level. Federal standards related to civil rights laws do not need departments or operating budgets, they are best enforced by the judiciary. This chart is an example of the following social viruses:
- Consolidation of power,
- The effects of special interest lobbies,
- Rent-seeking behavior,
- Failure of the Constitution to properly separate the government and economic sectors.
- The desire of irresponsible citizens to “pass the buck” up to the next level of government.
Out of decent compassion, there ought to be a safety net for the indigent who are U.S. citizens. But, any of these services ought to be at the county or state level.
At the community or city or county level it is easier to assess need for services. A national bureaucracy cannot possibly do this well.