Thomas Jefferson once said, "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." This is what we must do, get rid of government involvement in our healthcare systems. Socialized healthcare has failed over and over again, and it is time we move on towards privatized medicine. The free market is always more efficient, and is the answer to all of our problems.
A major struggle with socialized healthcare is how it will get its funding. Look at Great Britain for example, in 1948 they switched to free, government funded healthcare hoping it would help, but in just the first year they went fifty two million pounds over what they estimated and couldn't keep up. They had to compete with other government programs, national defense, and pensions, which of course didn't turn out well. Healthcare quality decreased. When a free service is provided, people will opt out of paying and even abuse the free service because they have no reason not to. This results in long waiting lines or people being turned away, which has even resulted in death.
If we look at Canada, which is one of the main examples used when trying to promote socialized healthcare, we see the same thing happening. Waiting lists are long, not always due to lack of funding but because doctors and nurses can make much more money in other countries. Canada has a shortage of medical practitioners due to socialization, making healthcare not available to all who need it. Recently there was an incident where an eighteen year old girl, Laura Hillier died because of the bed shortage. She was suffering from leukemia and had donors ready to give her bone marrow, but before she had the chance she passed away. If Canadian healthcare had been privatized, hospitals would have accommodated her a lot sooner because they would have wanted her business; and that's what a hospital is, a business, not a right.
Socialized services are often desired by those who 'feel' rather than 'think.' In theory, it sounds perfect for us all to pitch in and help out those who need medical help. It would suck if people died because they couldn't afford going to the hospital, right? As we see with the tragic Laura Hillier incident, this is already happening! The only difference is not we have no way to help those who have been denied help or put on a long waiting list because healthcare is a monopoly. We should have empathy, but socialization is not the way to go about it. When there is a socialized service we know that almost everyone will choose it rather than a service you have to pay. Therefore, even when the government decides not to heavily regulate or ban private businesses from providing the service as well, we don't have competition we need. Free market capitalism is successful due to competition, therefore when it is left alone, unregulated, purely privatized, we get innovation and quality. A business must adjust to the needs of its clients, providing the best service possible for the lowest price. If a business in the free market were to run how current hospitals run, there's no doubt they would do out of business very quickly.
Now, the last thing we need to realize, is how lots of individuals aren't aware of what a right is, or what it implies. To say that healthcare, or any other service for that matter, is a right is to say that that every individual is entitled to that service. This implies that if someone does not wish to provide you with healthcare, you will hold a gun to their head and force them to. This is where people get it very wrong. All human transactions should be voluntary. Using coercion to steal the labors of another is immoral, even if the government does it for you via taxation. The only way to morally receive healthcare is through voluntary exchanges. We can pay for the service, or buy insurance, and we even have the option to negotiate or crowd fund if we do not have the means to pay for it. There are many different ways, but the bottom line is that we should never use coercion, and recognize that it is a business agreement and not a human right.
As you can see, there are many reasons why socialized healthcare is inefficient and, quite literally, a dying system. Historically and currently, socialized healthcare has never worked, and crossing our fingers and hoping one day it does will not help those who are not getting the medical care they need. It is not random when socialized healthcare fails because it has been proven to be economically unsound. Where socialism fails, capitalism will prevail. We need to stop depending on the government and more on the free market, where we can choose what is best for ourselves and our family.
