I ain't no doctor...

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” ~ Martin Luther King

This quote was used by Ken Ulman in the State of the County speech while he fawned on the Healthy Howard Initiative. I am curious: what was the context in which Dr. King used this quote? Was he referring to racism in the healthcare system, or was he referring to some other type of injustice? I ask the question because I am unaware of any modern day systematic injustice in our healthcare system. Well, let me rephrase that- other than the government regulations that limit the supply of healthcare providers, and the regulations that make the emergency room free for those that cannot afford it (so people with the flu have an incentive to use the emergency room) which drives up the cost of healthcare, I don’t know of any systematic injustices. Is this the injustice that was Ulman referring to?

That said, I am warming up to the Healthy Howard plan. In the past I have criticized, unfairly, the coercive nature of the plan. The plan is not mandatory, and it does not put mandates on businesses. However, I don’t like the fact that the “health coaches” can basically run you ragged if they so choose in an effort to achieve, as they see fit, YOUR health care goals. Additionally, it is not health insurance, and it has a limited range of usefulness. In fact, you are limited to the number of doctor visits you get a year (but it is something like six, which is more than enough for most people). Also, if you have a terminal disease that needs active treatment, this plan basically sucks. But it does reduce the incentive for those who use the emergency room for non-emergencies.

One huge problem in healthcare is that many people think that it should be free or deeply discounted, and many government regulations reflect this voter preference. What would happen if we tried to make free or deeply discounted pizza, while at the same time restricting those who made pizza? The demand would out pace the supply, the quality of pizza would decline, and we would have general chaos in the pizza market. Well that has basically happened, but in healthcare. Thank Buddha healthcare is not as important as pizza!