Hsieh Forbes Column: Health Care Vs. Liberty In Singapore

My latest Forbes column is now out: "Health Care Vs. Liberty In Singapore".

I discuss the trade-offs that Singapore residents must make when they accept government-run "universal health care" and "cost control". This is includes significant losses in liberty as well as accepting government rationing of medical services.

For more details, see the full text of "Health Care Vs. Liberty In Singapore".

The Myth of the Free-Market American Health Care System

At the Forbes blog, Avik Roy discusses "The Myth of the Free-Market American Health Care System".

His basic point is an important one that bears repeating: America does not currently have a free-market medical system. In particular, he notes:

In reality, per-capita state-sponsored health expenditures in the United States are the third-highest in the world, only below Norway and Luxembourg. And this is before our new health law kicks in...

The thing to remember in America is that we have single-payer health care for the elderly and for the poor: the two costliest groups. In addition, the relatively healthy middle class has heavily-subsidized private health insurance, in which few individuals have the freedom to choose the insurance plan they receive. Neither of these facts commend the American health-care system to devotees of the free market.

Avik Roy does praise statist elements in some other countries' health systems, such as Switzerland and Singapore -- which I disagree with. But those are topics for a separate day.

(Via Dr. Matthew Bowdish.)