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The Real Free-Market Approach to Health Care, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 For over one hundred years, the American people said no to governmental intervention into health care. Americans did not permit their respective states to license physicians and other health-care providers. They did not permit government to provide health care to the poor and needy. No one was required to purchase ... [click for more]

National Health Insurance and the Welfare State, Part 2

by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The modern welfare state arose in Imperial Germany in the late 19th century. Under pressure of growing support for the Social Democratic Party in the 1870s and 1880s, Kaiser Wilhem II and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck attempted to preempt the appeal of radical socialism by establishing a series of socialized ... [click for more]

Clinton’s Health-Care Plan for You: Cradle-to-Grave Slavery, Part 2

by Jarret B. Wollstein February 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 Under President Clinton's health-care plan, every person in America will be registered by the federal government and issued a red, white and blue "Health Security Card." This includes independent contractors, the self-employed, the homeless, and illegal immigrants who have regular jobs. Babies will be registered at birth. As The Clinton Blueprint: The President's Health Security ... [click for more]

Free Medicine

by William Dale February 1, 1994

Nearly every reform proposal offered to fix "the health-care crisis" calls for increased governmental control of medicine. These proposals are the logical result of the belief that there is a "right" to medical care. But there is no such right. Rights, properly understood, do not include an entitlement to the services of others. Recall the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson referred ... [click for more]

The Confusion over Rights

by Dominick T. Armentano February 1, 1994

The fastest-growing federal programs are entitlements and transfer programs. These programs include Medicare, food stamps, housing assistance, and Social Security, among others. Transfer programs have risen from 15% of federal spending in 1953 to 20% in 1965, to almost 45% in 1992. Any serious attempt to control federal spending must begin with these programs. [click for more]

Health Care Reform vs. the Founders

by David B. Rivkind Jr. February 1, 1994

The president has announced his health-care plan, and congressional Republicans have announced theirs. Although the details are still murky, the plans seem to share one fundamental assumption — that every man, woman and child in the U.S. must participate in the system. The healthy must subsidize the sick; the young must subsidize the old; the ... [click for more]

A Freedom Daily Classic Reprint: The Right to Health

by Thomas Szasz February 1, 1994

The State can protect and promote the interests of its sick, or potentially sick, citizens in one of two ways only: either by coercing physicians, and other medical and paramedical personnel, to serve patients — as State-owned slaves in the last analysis, or be creating economic, moral, and political circumstances favorable to a plentiful supply of competent physicians and ... [click for more]

The Real Free-Market Approach to Health Care, Part 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In his book A Critique of Interventionism , Ludwig von Mises wrote, "Authors of economics books, essays, articles, and political platforms demand interventionist measures before they are taken, but once they have been imposed no one likes them. Then everyone-usually even the authorities responsible for them-call them insufficient and ... [click for more]

National Health Insurance and the Welfare State, Part 1

by Richard M. Ebeling January 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 After the experiences of the totalitarian states in the 20th century, logic suggests that the world would have learned the lesson that every growth in state power-every extension of government control in social and economic affairs-threatens the liberty of the people. The alternative is always and ultimately a choice between ... [click for more]

Clinton’s Health-Care Plan for You: Cradle-to-Grave Slavery, Part 1

by Jarret B. Wollstein January 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 President Clinton says health care in America costs too much-that it's a national disgrace that 37 million Americans have no health insurance and that tens of millions of others have inadequate coverage. Clinton's "solution": a total government takeover of all medical care in the U.S.--1/7 of the entire U.S. economy. As you will ... [click for more]

The Case against Medical Licensing

by Lawrence D. Wilson January 1, 1994

For the first 120 years of our history, America had, essentially, a free-market health-care system. There were few licensing laws or other barriers to entry into the healing arts. A variety of practitioners offered services, including herbalists, nature-care therapists, hydrotherapists, osteopaths, allopaths and homeopaths. There was a variety of healing schools and clinics. During this time, America was among ... [click for more]

A Freedom Daily Classic Reprint: Medical Licensure

by Milton Friedman January 1, 1994

The medical profession is one in which practice of the profession has for a long time been restricted to people with licenses. Offhand, the question, "Ought we to let incompetent physicians practice?" seems to admit of only a negative answer. But I want to urge that second thought may give pause. In the first place, licensure is the key to ... [click for more]