Kevin Patrick for House of Delegates

First: Health Care ≠ Health Insurance.

I support private health insurance which is transferable from job to job, or not attached to employment.  I do not support a government sponsored 'universal' health care (which really amounts to nationalized health insurance, not care).  This system still leaves millions uninsured.  We all know that when control of any commodity is given over to the government, it gets expensive and is not always the best product.

  I believe that a free-market solution is possible, and will provide the best care at the cheapest cost.  Many of the problems we see in the health-care system are because of middle-men; the insurance companies and government.  Technology usually drives prices down, as businesses must compete for consumers with the most efficient means of production/service.  This is why more options should lead to lower costs.  When a third-party decides what you can and cannot purchase (what is covered), this function is eliminated.

Look at how cheap cell-phones are now.  You can go to your local China Mart, and buy a prepaid phone for $8.  The market did that.  I'm making this website on a $300 laptop running a free operating system (Linux).  Can you imagine the cost if the Federal Government had made a War on Isolation, and said they would put a cell-phone and laptop in the hand of every American? 

In economics, there something called "moral hazard."  Moral hazard occurs when two parties make a decision, and the negative consequences do not effect them but effect a third party; while they reap the benefits of a success.  This causes the first two parties to make increasingly risky decisions; since they do not bear the cost of their decisions but still receive the benefit.  The Health Insurance industry is that way; as were the Auto Bailouts.

Do you know how much an MRI costs?  I don't.  The reason why, is because insurance deals with it.  So there's no need for hospitals to compete, therefor we do not know the costs (plus Federal Law prohibits the advertising of their costs).  Hospitals charge as much as they can, insurance attempts to minimize its cost, and we are stuck in the middle.

I spent 6 weeks in Serbia, a former communist bloc country, this past year.  One of the things I was amazed with was the private medical field.  There are public clinics, but they do not offer as many services as the private ones do.  A course of antibiotics cost about $1.50 in spring of 2009.  No insurance.  No hassle.  Free Markets.

When Americans are again allowed to vote with their wallets, prices should drop, and quickly. But if the Feds nationalize health insurance, and by extension, health care... we will be in for a bumpy ride.