The Health Plan's Devilish Principles by Murray N. = Rothbard

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Murray wrote = against=20 Hillary's fascisticare in 1994; his article is just as = relevant to=20 Obama's commiecare in 2009.

The=20 standard media clich=E9 about the Clinton health plan is = that God, or=20 the Devil, depending on your point of view, "is in the = details."=20 There is surprising agreement among both the supporters and = all too=20 many of the critics of the Clinton health "reform." The = supporters=20 say that the general principles of the plan are wonderful, = but that=20 there are a few problems in the details: e.g., how much will = it=20 cost, how exactly will it be financed, will small business = get a=20 sufficient subsidy to offset its higher costs, and on into = the=20 night.

The = alleged=20 critics of the Clinton Plan also hasten to assure us that = they too=20 accept the general principles, but that there are lots of = problems=20 in the details. Often the critics will present their own = alternative=20 plans, only slightly less complex than the Clinton scheme,=20 accompanied by assertions that their plans are less = coercive, less=20 costly, and less socialistic than the Clinton effort. And = since=20 health care constitutes about one-seventh of the American = output,=20 there are enough details and variants to keep a host of = policy=20 workers going for the rest of the their lives.

But = the details=20 of the Clintonian plan, however diabolic, are merely petty = demons=20 compared to the general principles, where Lucifer really = lurks. By=20 accepting the principles, and fighting over the details, the = Loyal=20 Opposition only succeeds in giving away the store, and doing = so=20 before the debate over the details can even get under way. = Lost in=20 an eye-glazing thicket of minutiae, the conservative critics = of=20 Clintonian reform, by being "responsible" and working within = the=20 paradigm set by The Enemy, are performing a vital service = for the=20 Clintonians in snuffing out any clear-cut opposition to = Clinton's=20 Great Leap Forward into health collectivism.

Let = us examine=20 some of the Mephistophelean general principles in the = Clintonian=20 reform, seconded by the conservative=20 critics.

GUARANTEED=20 UNIVERSAL ACCESS. There has been a lot of talk recently = about=20 "universal access" to this or that good or service. Many=20 "libertarian" or "free-market" proponents of education = "reform,"=20 for example, advocate tax-supported voucher schemes to = provide=20 "access" to private schooling. But there is one simple = entity, in=20 any sort of free society, that provides "universal access" = to=20 every conceivable good or service, and not just to health = or=20 education or food. That entity is not a voucher or a = Clintonian ID=20 card; it's called a "dollar." Dollars not only provide = universal=20 access to all goods and services, they provide it to each=20 dollar-holder for each product only to the extent that the = dollar-holder desires. Every other artificial accessor, be = it=20 voucher or health card or food stamp, is despotic and = coercive,=20 mulcts the taxpayer, is inefficient and=20 egalitarian.
COERCIVE.=20 "Guaranteed universal access" can only be provided by the = robbery=20 of taxation, and the essence of this extortion is not = changed by=20 calling these taxes "fees," "premiums," or = "contributions." A tax=20 by any other name smells as rotten, and has similar = consequences,=20 even if only "employers" are forced to pay the higher=20 "premiums."

Furthermore,=20 for anyone to be "guaranteed" access to anything, he has = to be=20 forced to participate, both in receiving its "benefits" = and in=20 paying for them. Hence, "guaranteed universal access" = means=20 coercing not only taxpayers, but everyone as participants = and=20 contributors. All the weeping and wailing about the 37 = million=20 "uninsured" glosses over the fact that most of these = uninsured=20 have a made a rational decision that they don't want to be = "insured," that they are willing to take the chance of = paying=20 market prices should health care become necessary. But = they will=20 not be permitted to remain free of the "benefits" of = insurance;=20 their participation will become compulsory. We will all = become=20 health draftees.
EGALITARIAN.=20 Universal means egalitarian. For the dread egalitarian = theme of=20 "fairness" enters immediately into the equation. Once = government=20 becomes the boss of all health, under the Clinton plan or = the=20 Loyal Opposition, then it seems "unfair" for the rich to = enjoy=20 better medical care than the lowest bum. This "fairness" = ploy is=20 considered self-evident and never subject to criticism. = Why is=20 "the two-tier" health system (actually it has been = multi-tier) any=20 more "unfair" than the multi-tier system for clothing or = food or=20 transportation? So far at least, most people don't = consider it=20 unfair that some people can afford to dine at The Four = Seasons and=20 vacation at Martha's Vineyard, whereas others have to rest = content=20 with McDonald's and staying home. Why is medical care any=20 different?

And yet, one=20 of the major thrusts of the Clinton Plan is to reduce us = all to=20 "one-tier," egalitarian health care=20 status.
COLLECTIVIST.=20 To ensure equality for one and all, medical care will be=20 collectivist, under close supervision of the federal = Health Care=20 Board, with health provision and insurance dragooned by = government=20 into regional collectives and alliances. The private = practice of=20 medicine will be essentially driven out, so that these = collectives=20 and HMOs will be the only option for the consumer. Even = though the=20 Clintonians try to assure Americans that they can still = "choose=20 their own doctor," in practice this will be increasingly=20 impossible.
PRICE=20 CONTROLS. Since it is fairly well known that price = controls have=20 never worked, that they have always been a disaster, the = Clinton=20 Administration always keen on semantic trickery, have = stoutly=20 denied that any price controls are contemplated. But the = network=20 of severe price controls will be all too evident and = painful, even=20 if they wear the mask of "premium caps," "cost caps," or = "spending=20 control." They will have to be there, for it is the = promise of=20 "cost control" that permits the Clintonians to make the = outrageous=20 claim that taxes will hardly go up at all. (Except, of = course, on=20 employers.) Tight spending control will be enforced by the = government, not merely on its own, but particularly on = private=20 spending.

One of the=20 most chilling aspects of the Clinton plan is that any = attempt by=20 us consumers to get around these price controls, e.g. to = pay=20 higher than controlled prices to doctors in private = practice, will=20 be criminalized. Thus, the Clinton Plan states that "A = provider=20 may not charge or collect from the patient a fee in excess = of the=20 fee schedule adopted by an alliance," and criminal = penalties will=20 be imposed for "payment of bribes or gratuities" (i.e. = "black=20 market prices") to "influence the delivery of health = service."=20

In arguing=20 for their plan, by the way, the Clintonians have added = insult to=20 injury by employing absurd nonsense in the form of = argument. Their=20 main argument for the plan is that health care is "too = costly,"=20 and that thesis rests on the fact that health care = spending, over=20 recent years, has risen considerably as a percentage of = the GDP.=20 But a spending rise is scarcely the same as a cost = increase; if it=20 were, then I could easily argue that, since the percentage = of GDP=20 spent on computers has risen wildly in the past ten years, = that=20 "computer costs" are therefore excessive, and severe price = controls, caps, and spending controls must be imposed = promptly on=20 consumer and business purchases of computers.=20
MEDICAL=20 RATIONING. Severe price and spending controls means, of = course,=20 that medical care will have to be strictly rationed, = especially=20 since these controls and caps come at the same time that = universal=20 and equal care is being "guaranteed." Socialists, indeed, = always=20 love rationing, since it gives the bureaucrats power over = the=20 people and makes for coercive=20 egalitarianism.

And so this=20 means that the government, and its medical bureaucrats and = underlings, will decide who gets what service. Medical=20 totalitarianism, if not the rest of us, will be alive and = well in=20 America.
THE ANNOYING=20 CONSUMER. We have to remember a crucial point about = government as=20 against business operations on the market. Businesses are = always=20 eager for consumers to buy their product or service. On = the free=20 market, the consumer is king or queen and the "providers" = are=20 always trying to make profits and gain customers by = serving them=20 well. But when government operates a service, the consumer = is=20 transmuted into a pain-in-the-neck, a "wasteful" user-up = of scarce=20 social resources. Whereas the free market is a peaceful=20 cooperative place where everyone benefits and no one = loses, when=20 government supplies the product or service, every consumer = is=20 treated as using a resource only at the expense of his = fellow men.=20 The "public service" arena, and not the free market, is = the=20 dog-eat-dog jungle.

So there we=20 have the Clintonian health future: government as = totalitarian=20 rationer of health care, grudgingly doling out care on the = lowest=20 possible level equally to all, and treating each "client" = as a=20 wasteful pest. And if, God forbid, you have a serious = health=20 problem, or are elderly, or your treatment requires more = scarce=20 resources than the Health Care Board deems proper, well = then Big=20 Brother or Big Sister Rationer in Washington will decided, = in the=20 best interests of "society," of course, to give you the = Kevorkian=20 treatment.
THE GREAT=20 LEAP FORWARD. There are many other ludicrous though almost = universally accepted aspects of the Clinton Plan, from the = gross=20 perversion of the concept of "insurance" to the imbecilic = view=20 that an enormous expansion of government control will = somehow=20 eliminate the need for filling out health forms. But = suffice it to=20 stress the most vital point: the plan consists of one more = Great=20 Leap Forward into = collectivism.

The point was=20 put very well, albeit admiringly, by David Lauter in the = Los=20 Angeles Times (September 23). Every once in a while, said = Lauter,=20 "the government collectively braces itself, takes a deep = breath=20 and leaps into a largely unknown future." The first = American leap=20 was the New Deal in the 1930s, leaping into Social = Security and=20 extensive federal regulation of the economy. The second = leap was=20 the civil rights revolution of the 1960s. And now, writes = Lauter,=20 "another new President has proposed a sweeping plan" and = we have=20 been hearing again "the noises of a political system = warming up=20 once again for the big jump."

The only important = point Mr.=20 Lauter omits is leaping into what? Wittingly or = unwittingly, his=20 "leap" metaphor rings true, for it recalls the Great Leap = Forward=20 of Mao's worst surge into extreme=20 Communism.

The Clinton health plan is not "reform" and it = doesn't=20 meet a "crisis." Cut through the fake semantics, and what we = have is=20 another Great Leap Forward into socialism. While Russia and = the=20 former Communist states are struggling to get out of = socialism and=20 the disaster of their "guaranteed universal health care" = (check=20 their vital statistics), Clinton and his bizarre Brain Trust = of=20 aging leftist grad students are proposing to wreck our = economy, our=20 freedom, and what has been, for all of the ills imposed by = previous=20 government intervention, the best medical system on earth.=20

That is why the=20 Clinton health plan must be fought against root and branch, = why=20 Satan is in the general principles, and why the Ludwig von = Mises=20 Institute, instead of offering its own 500-page health plan, = sticks=20 to its principled "four-step"=20 plan laid out by Mises Institute Senior Fellow = Hans-Hermann=20 Hoppe (The Free Market April 1993) of dismantling = existing=20 government intervention into health.

Murray N.=20 Rothbard (1926=961995) was the author of Man,=20 Economy, and State, Conceived=20 in Liberty, What=20 Has Government Done to Our Money, For a = New=20 Liberty, The=20 Case Against the Fed, and many other books = and=20 articles. He was also = the editor=20 =96 with Lew Rockwell =96 of The=20 Rothbard-Rockwell Report, and academic vice president = of the=20 Ludwig von Mises = Institute.

The Rothbard=20 Collection

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The Health Plan's = Devilish=20 Principles