111. "Applied Economics: Thinking beyond Stage One" by T. Sowell

"Applied Economics: Thinking beyond Stage One" by Thomas Sowell. This started out like a college thesis -- ho hum, another professor -- but turned into a wealth of good information. I thought I'd jump to the chapter "The Economics of Medical Care" since this topic is of high importance with the bills circulating in Congress. READ this chapter! Using history of failed attempts of government plans (Canada, Britain, France, Japan, Korea, etc.) and consequences of other "price controlled" programs Mr. Sowell presents the best and most logical reasons why we should never be considering a government managed health care. You'll find NO politics in this chapter -- just facts and pure logic. I know your commons sense has already questioned the cost of government Health Care; learn here the total costs. For example, a Canadian was injured to where he couldn't work and required surgery which took 15 weeks to get, whereas, it would have taken 2-3 weeks in the U.S. The operation in the U.S. would have cost $2000 more (ignore who pays it because you do in all cases -- insurance premiums plus taxes). The hidden cost turns out to be the lost pay for 12 weeks he had to wait in Canada. You do the math of that "additional cost" a U.S. resident would not have paid and you'll find the Canadian ended up paying even more. And, that's in addition to 12 more weeks of pain or disability. Tons of examples are used. He explains carefully how controlling the price of goods and services artificially drives the price down -- i.e., the price we see. But he explains also how when these artificial prices get low the demand for goods and services goes up. People go for anything and everything. The result being longer waiting queues and shorter times with the doctor. In all the other countries, studies have indicated that the actual time you see a doctor per visit goes down dramatically because HE has to hurry. This then results in you having to see him MULTIPLE times for the same problem. They even plan this to get 2-3 times the now lower reimbursed cost. He further explains why Americas cost per capita is higher than other countries -- in reality it isn't when you compare apples to apples. This book is a MUST read. If everybody would read just this chapter, we wouldn't be arguing the Health Care bills! We would just throw them out.