Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site unmvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!cmcl2!lanl!unmvax!cliff From: cliff@unmvax.UUCP Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Seat-belt laws Message-ID: <659@unmvax.UUCP> Date: Sat, 9-Feb-85 23:08:22 EST Article-I.D.: unmvax.659 Posted: Sat Feb 9 23:08:22 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 12-Feb-85 05:00:45 EST References: <321@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP> <630@unmvax.UUCP> <599@tty3b.UUCP> Organization: Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque Lines: 29 > > >From: cliff@unmvax.UUCP > > > >Want to reduce medical costs for everybody? > >Get rid of medicare and deregulate the medical industry. > > Sure, it's worked so well, let's have more! Medicine in the U.S. is > less regulated than in just about any other industrialized western > country. The result is predictable: two tiers of service, one for > those who can pay and another for those who can't; one of the largest > shares of GDP going to medical payments in the world; and overall an > unimpressive set of health statistics. > > Mike Kelly Whether it is "less regulated" than others or not, there is still so much regulation that it is not surprising that the costs are enormous. It is not uncommon to hear of people who want to build hospitals that are not allowed, because they can't show proof that they are needed. I can not decide that I need a particular drug, write a prescription and go purchase it. As long as the number of hospitals is kept down and the number of people allowed to perform the most rudimentary medicine is likewise restricted, the cost will remain be enourmous. BTW, when you say we are less regulated do you mean the qualifications of doctors are lower or do you mean that Uncle Sam doesn't directly set the rates that our medicine people can charge? --Cliff