The Egalitarian Impulse

Posted by admin in Health Care, Louisiana on Dec 22nd, 2008 | no responses

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Dr. Steven T. Boyd, a pharmacist who is on the Medicaid Reform Advisory Group in Louisiana, gives two thumbs up to Gov. Bobby Jindal's Medicaid reform proposals.

What's even more interesting, is the comment of one reader: "If the reforms mean equal access the SAME standard of medical care to ALL citizens, regardless of ability to pay. I'm all for it."

The egalitarian impulse never dies, does it?

Sorry folks, but it's always been better to be have wealth ("ability to pay") than not, and it always will be. It's true in health care as well–having more options to choose from is good in and of itself.

But fear not, egalitarians; increased spending doesn't necessarily mean better health. Medicare routinely spends more in some parts of the country than in others, with little difference in patient outcomes. How you spend the money makes a difference, too, and for all the advances of medical science, what works and what doesn't in a given medical science is still an imprecise science.

Equality of treatment, mandated by law, leads to death.

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