The Wealth of Nations

I have been hearing and reading a lot about the healthcare and insurance reform being discussed lately. Frankly I am angered that so many intelligent people are missing an important distinction. That between healthcare and health insurance. Somehow because they both have the word health in them they must be synonymous. Not so.

Healthcare, ie medical treatment, is a right. Health insurance, ie coverage for a future loss, is a privilege. Americans feel that medical care, when you are sick or injured, is a right. And as a Christian I agree with that. No one wants their family or friends to go untreated. No one wants to deny medical care and treatment to anyone. However there are costs associated with that treatment. The real question we have before us is “How do we pay for it?”. An individual asks how do I pay the doctor to see me, or how do I pay for this pill, this test, this surgery.

One solution that we have been using for many years in America is insurance. Insurance is admittedly a gamble, for both sides. But one that we willing and eager to sign up for. It is a gamble where a contract is clearly outlined and agreed to by both parties.

A contract is an agreement between two or more parties that is, many times, an exchange of goods or services. One party pays a price to have the other party offer services or goods under certain circumstances. You form impromptu contracts each time you purchase an item. A retailer agrees to give you a product and you agree to give him currency. Both parties find value in the exchange. It is a more complicated form of bartering and trading – I’ll give you a chicken for your milk and cheese. If you feel an item is overpriced or not a quality item you do not purchase it. Simple as that. If the seller feels your monetary offer does not match the value of his product, he does not sell the product to you. There is choice on both sides. One side chooses to offer a product; the other side chooses to pay for the product. If you cannot pay the price for the goods and services offered it is reasonable that the seller does not give them to you. It is also reasonable that if the cost to create the product goes up, the price of the product goes up. We call this business.

Business is different than charity. Charity says, I will give you something that you have not paid for out of the goodness of my heart. Business is when we make an exchange under mutually agreeable terms. It is each party’s responsibility to look out for their own side. It you agree to and pay for a contract that does not benefit you, that is your stupidity. Ultimately not the time for an emotional appeal. "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages" - Adam Smith. Welcome to capitalism.

Insurance is a business. Insurance also is one way to pay for medical care. You pay an agreed upon price in advance for the promise that the insurance company will pay for your medical care in the future. Or, in the case of car insurance, the insurance company will pay for your car repairs should your car become damaged. The payment is under certain circumstances that were outlined and agreed upon when you signed up for your policy and began paying premiums. If someone feels that he is not getting a product that he paid for when he signed up for that insurance, he should not continue to pay for the insurance. If you do not read your policy and know what you are signing up for you cannot complain when a product is not delivered as you expect, but rather as it is outlined in the policy/contract.

If it must be asked, the questions our government should be asking is not “how do we get insurance coverage for everyone,” but “how do we pay for everyone’s medical care.” That is the real issue here.

Answers to the question “how do we pay for everyone’s medical care?” include addressing the cost of that medical care. As in any other business we need to ask “Is the cost of this procedure, test, treatment etc worth the price?” If things are overpriced, that is an issue that should be taken up with the medical care providers and pharmaceutical companies, not the insurance companies.

Discuss. . .