Quixotic Foolishness
30 September 2006
The Editor, New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
Marcus Tye feels that "We should stop thinking of health care as a benefit to be earned from work and bought through middlemen (private insurers), and start treating it as a human right and a universal entitlement" (Letters, September 30).
This sentiment is quixotic. Because the resources necessary to produce it are not available in unlimited quantities, medical care is costly. There simply can never be enough medical care to satisfy every demand that every person has for it if it is free at the point of delivery. Attempts to distribute medical care free of charge - as a right - inevitably lead to its misuse and to bureaucrats deciding which patients get which treatments and which patients are to be denied their alleged "human right."
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
The Editor, New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
Marcus Tye feels that "We should stop thinking of health care as a benefit to be earned from work and bought through middlemen (private insurers), and start treating it as a human right and a universal entitlement" (Letters, September 30).
This sentiment is quixotic. Because the resources necessary to produce it are not available in unlimited quantities, medical care is costly. There simply can never be enough medical care to satisfy every demand that every person has for it if it is free at the point of delivery. Attempts to distribute medical care free of charge - as a right - inevitably lead to its misuse and to bureaucrats deciding which patients get which treatments and which patients are to be denied their alleged "human right."
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Tuesday May 29, 2007 at 1:57pm