Suffering the Illusion

The present health care delivery system is structured to be inflationary and quality challenged because it lacks the forces of a free market. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has demonstrated what Adam Smith warned, that government has no “master” in the market and will “set the market rather than abide by it.” CMS, the federal health insurer, has become skilled at “setting” the health care insurance market to reward preventable medical errors and factor operational inefficiencies into provider payments and then utilizing price controls minimizes the costly consequences of it own policies. CMS, the “master,” then allows health care providers to shift the losses from Medicare price controls to the charges paid by “competing” commercial insurers like a stealth tax. This diversion has inspired public outcries of overcharging aimed at health care insurers, hospitals, etc. Meanwhile, the great bureaucratic Houdini is praised for making Medicare comparatively affordable, leaving many to tout it as a template for nationalized health care! But the first casualty of an illusion is reality. In other words, the real “Sicko” resides inside the Beltway. Sorry, Michael Moore you bought the illusion.