One of the linchpin arguments of government-run health care advocates is that the government can run an insurance program more efficiently and with much lower administrative costs than the private sector. According to them, Medicare overhead is approximately 3% while private insurers have 12% (or 20% or 31% depending on who is talking) in administrative costs.

The argument is complete rubbish.

Put aside the fact that since private insurance companies have to earn a profit for their shareholders, they must also root out fraud. Medicare and Medicaid - which are rife with fraud to the tune of billions of dollars - do not because they rely on a bottomless pit of taxpayer money.

Put aside the fact that private insurers need to collect premiums while the government collects its premiums through the IRS whose administrative costs are nowhere to be found in the so-called Medicare overhead number.

The reason that the Medicare overhead number appears so low is that it is computed as a percentage of total health care costs. Since Medicare covers people over 65 whose costs are much higher than the under-65 population, the admin costs appear lower - but they are not. This is nothing more than lying with statistics.

It seems that the advocates of government-run healthcare didn't learn anything from the history of the 20th century. Almost 20 years since the end of the Soviet Union and the collapse of world communism, the American left still seems to think that government should run businesses and that profit should be outlawed. There's absolutely nothing different about health care from any other important good or service that the market provides.

Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute addresses the issue of health care "reform" in a new column:

Government intervention in medicine is wrecking American health care. Nearly half of all spending on health care in America is already government spending. Yet President Obama's "reforms" will only expand that intervention.

Prior to the government's entrance into medicine, health care was regarded as a product to be traded voluntarily on a free market - no different from food, clothing, or any other important good or service. Medical providers competed to provide the best quality services at the lowest possible prices. Virtually all Americans could afford basic health care, while those few who could not were able to rely on abundant private charity.

Had this freedom been allowed to endure, Americans' rising productivity would have afforded them better and better health care, just as, today, we buy better and more varied food and clothing than people did a century ago. There would be no crisis of affordability, as there isn't for food or clothing.

This video speaks for itself - and shows that Obama's various defenses of the public insurance option are more of the same: obfuscation and propaganda.

Paul Krugman of the New York Times is one of the most mendacious commentators on health care in the mainstream media. See my essay The Health Care Lies of Paul Krugman - and this entertaining video. Enjoy!

Having government-provided health insurance doesn't do a lot of good when the health care is delivered by apathetic, uncaring, unionized, government health workers.

Consider this story (July 5, 2009) in the UK's Telegraph newspaper:

Cancer patient Pamela Goddard battled against cancer for 50 years before she died of an infected bedsore during a stay in hospital.

...

The cancer did not kill her, but a bedsore did.

What appeared to be the start of one was noted on her back as she was admitted for radiation treatment in September and it was allowed to gradually develop into a "raging sore" which left Mrs Goddard moaning in pain.

During four weeks of what her family describe as "torture" in a bed in East Surrey Hospital, the sore resulted in a fatal blood infection and she died on October 27.

Her son Adrian Goddard, who lives in the US, said: "She survived cancer for 40 years, then died from a bedsore.

"It is just beyond belief that they could let a bedsore develop to the point where it actually kills someone from septicaemia."He said the nurses seemed largely unconcerned by the growing size of the sore and his mother's increasing pain."

The bedsore was painful. There were various procedures that should have been done. You are supposed to debride the thing, clean it, treat it."

She was supposed to be lifted and moved so there's not constant pressure on it," Mr Goddard said."There were explanations like 'there was only one nurse and it wasn't possible to do it or the equipment was broken'... just a series of excuses.

Of course, the Obama administration denies that UK socialist-style health care cost containment is on the horizon. They prefer the approach of having government pay for health care while hospitals and doctors remain nominally private. However, the Obama approach is like that taken in Canada where stories of hospital neglect - just like in the UK - are reported with great regularity.

A new video produced by the National Center for Policy Analysis features Canadian medical broker Rick Baker of Timely Medical Alternatives who has appeared in several of our health care films. This piece serves as a warning from someone who sees suffering and waiting Canadians on a daily basis.

To sign the "Free Our Health Care Now!" petition, visit their website.

The Independence Institute in Colorado has just produced a good video explaining how individual mandates have worked in Massachusetts with the following introduction:

We all agree the health care system is in need of reform. That's not the issue. The debate is really what kind of reform is needed. There are those rooting for nationalizing health care - Obama Care. What's that you ask? Obama's idea of reform is a government takeover of the health care system. One of the most popular forms of government takeover is the "Massachusetts Model." Those of us opposing "reform" that involves yet more government interference, wish to see a system that incorporates more consumer choice and more competition. Take a minute to watch this new video outlining just one of the many reasons the Massachusetts model has failed.

If you think that government-run medicine will solve the problems in our health care system, listen to this sobering testimonial on socialized medicine in the UK:

  The National Center for Policy Analysis, The Mike Gallagher Show and the Salem Radio Network have authored the "Free Our Health Care Now!" online petition. They hope to deliver hundreds of thousands of online petition signatures to Congress to stop ObamaCare in its tracks.

Sign the petition now!

I always like to hear the reasoned arguments of our adversaries (see email below). I especially like his analysis of how costs are held down in the UK and Canada via "preventive medicine". I think what he means is that all those colonoscopies that the NHS prevents Brits from getting greatly lower their colorectal cancer outcomes - thus saving the system lots of money via the premature death of patients.

From: byron19119@yahoo.com
Subject: Ha Ha!
Date: May 12, 2009 12:51:10 PM EDT
To: stuartbrowning@onthefencefilms.com

If you weren't so stupid and so godamm funny I would actually be upset about your lies and stupidity concerning single payer health insurance. I never heard of any of your "films", but I'm sure they're as equally funny and misguided. Let's see - whose opionion should I trust? - a nobel prize winning econimist PhD from Princeton or a hack nobody? Tough choice. As for Canadian healthcare or British healthcare for that matter, the main focus is on preventative medicine. That's why the costs are so low. People in this country who are uninsured wait until the last minute to receive help, so costs ultimately skyrocket.
Aetna (one grand cocksucking "health" insurance swindler) actually requires a renal patient to pay a 50.00 co-pay out of pocket for each dialysis treatment. They also mandate that ALL renal patients need only three treatments a week. In Britain, if your doctor stipulates 5 treatments - you get 5 treatments - no copay. By the by, if you can't afford the co-pay I know of many patients who apply for Medicare. So big, bad government actually subsidizes these multi-billion dollar industries. Does this make sense to you, you fucking moron? Socialized Medicine Now!

In last week's U.S. News and World Report, Newt Gingrich plugged my health care videos:

More government bureaucrats involved in your healthcare would be destructive. Other countries with similar systems face lengthy and often deadly waiting lists. That is the only way to ration unlimited demand in the face of static supply. Go to YouTube and view the short films of Stuart Browning for a flavor of the Canadian system.

On Friday, I appeared on Canadian national television in a story about the popularity of my video "A Short Course In Brain Surgery" and its contribution to the health care debate. The video (of which there are at least three copies on YouTube) has been viewed over 2 million times. Click the thumbnail to play.

The Perils of Public Health Care (CBC, Feb 22 2008)

We've just posted details for two more campus screenings of Indoctrinate U: one at Louisiana State University (Shreveport) and another at San Diego State University. For more information, visit the Indoctrinate U screenings page.

A Short Course In Brain Surgery - my short movie which tells the story of Lindsay McCreith, a Canadian with a cancerous brain tumor who had to come to the U.S. to receive timely medical care - has now been viewed over 500,000 times on YouTube.

Not bad for a piece about health care policy.

As this nation barrels head-long towards government-controlled "universal healthcare", I hope that many more people are able to view the movie - and draw the appropriate conclusion.

Brilliant commentary on the SCHIP scam.

Matthew Sheffield at NewsBusters has interviewed Evan Maloney. Topic: The making of Indoctrinate U.

Recently I had the privilege of attending the premier of the "Indoctrinate U," a documentary that exposes the widespread suppression of conservative and libertarian opinions on America's college campuses. Turns out, the same 60s and 70s radicals who marched for free speech back then aren't so interested in the concept now that they're running academia.

This is a great film and a very necessary one as well. I was so impressed by it that I wanted to interview its creator, Evan Coyne Maloney. We had an in-depth and candid discussion about a variety of things including how he got interested in film, getting funding for it, the background behind campus speech codes, how the media covers academic censorship and much more.

Read On

We are starting to post some of the scenes we loved but ended up having to cut from our feature length film Indoctrinate U. The first deleted scene is called "Columbia Quiz."

This less-than-five-minute video may prove embarrassing to the administration of Columbia University, which very clearly did not want Evan Maloney filming - unless he could convince them that our film would paper over the truth and make the university look good.

Sorry, Columbia!

Jamie Court of Santa Monica, California's "Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights" has a frustrating editorial in today's L.A. Times.

He asks "Is it the right of the government to impose an obligation to buy a private product that costs $12,000 a year for a family of four?" and concludes:

mandatory private insurance on this scale will not work. Mandatory auto insurance, which has been in force in California for more than two decades, has failed miserably. That's why a portion of our auto insurance premiums today go to pay for "uninsured motorist" coverage.
One in seven drivers has no auto insurance, compared to one in five without health insurance under a nonmandatory system.

I think Mr. Court is right about this. Forcing people to buy what they do not want or cannot afford is nothing but a confiscatory tax that limits people's freedom to spend their own money and control their own lives. And, there will be massive non-compliance.

Mr. Court's "solution" to the problem, however, is totally off-base. He says:

Californians are ready for market reforms to make health insurance more available and affordable, including forcing insurers to price policies fairly and preventing them from denying coverage to less healthy patients. Sacramento legislators should make the system fairer, regulate healthcare costs, then expand subsidies for low-income families. They should fix the broken market, not foist it on the public.

What a mistake! How is government regulation of insurance pricing, "forced issue" mandates and regulation of healthcare costs a "market reform"? More government control is a prescription for socialized medicine, which will work just as well as the grand Socialist "experiments" in the USSR, North Korea, East Germany and communist China.

Why, oh why, don't more people realize that government already mucks around in the not very "free market" for healthcare too much? Why don't people realize that every time government mandates or regulates something, it prevents the market from offering value and options?

When government mandates force sober homosexual men to buy health insurance policies that cover pregnancy expenses, infertility treatments and drug and alcohol in-patient care, premiums for these patients cost much more than necessary. When government regulation prohibits health insurers from offering plans across state-lines, there is less competition in each state and prices are higher than they would be in a true open market.

It's simple economics, folks! Won't someone PLEASE take a refresher course in Economics 101 . . . and pay attention during class?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Contact:
Jon Caldara, president, 303-279-6536 or jon@i2i.org
Amy Oliver, operations director, 970-371-3413 or amy@i2i.org

Think tank hosts independent film maker and free market health care advocate Stuart Browning for the Colorado premiere of Free Market Cure

GOLDEN, Colo - The Independence Institute is proud to announce that it will be hosting the Colorado premiere of Free Market Cure, a series of short films that honestly depicts the dangers of socialized medicine. Independent film maker and producer of Free Market Cure Stuart Browning will be our guest of honor.

According to Browning, those on the left including Hollywood and many politicians "are gearing up to bring socialized medicine to the U.S. under the guise of 'universal healthcare.' Americans should be aware, however, that government-run health care means high taxes, medical rationing - and waiting lists to see specialists, get diagnostic tests and to receive surgery."

Free Market Cure is designed to counter Michael Moore's Sicko, which Browning called "a large dose of misinformation and propaganda."

The premiere will be on Wednesday, September 19, at the Shwayder in the Mizel Center for Culture and Arts at 350 S. Dahlia Street in Denver. The movies and Browning's commentary will begin at 7 p.m. and will be followed by coffee and dessert. The event is free and open to the public but seating is limited so reservations are requested. Please contact Kay at 303-279-6536 or kay@i2i.org.

"Anyone who is even remotely concerned about the direction in which medical care in Colorado is headed must see Free Market Cure," said President Jon Caldara.

Caldara issued a personal invitation to all of Colorado's 208 commission members. "I understand that members were invited to hear Donna Smith who was featured in Sicko. I invite all of them to hear another perspective." he added.

Visit the Independence Institute Web site for more information.

The Independence Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit public policy research organization based in Golden, Colo.

Yesterday I gave an interview about Indoctrinate U on KCOL-AM out of Loveland, CO. Today saw two more interviews with Greg Allen of Accent Radio Network and Bud Hedinger from WFLA-AM out of Tampa, FL.

Please listen for me talking about our important film on the Steve Deace show tomorrow (9/6/2007) on WHO-AM from Des Moines, Iowa and with Travis Jackson on Knucklehead Radio from Maine.

Then on Friday (9/7/2007) I'll be on Lynn Woolley's show on KTEM-AM out of Temple, TX. Finally, next Wednesday (9/12/2007) I'll be promoting Indoctrinate U on "Kelli's" show on WJON-AM out of St. Cloud, MN.

Please tune in -- on the radio or on the web -- if you get the chance. The discussions arising from the film and the entire topic of political correctness run amok on college campuses have been great.