Whether by design or by necessity, it appears that single payer is inevitable. Economic reality demands it. Some external force needs to be applied to counter the cost of rapidly expanding medical technology coupled with the political and legal pressure to make that technology available to as many people as possible, regardless of their ability to pay . The problem is certainly not new, but we are at the point of having to admit that the methods to control costs up until now have been abysmal failures.
That’s because every cost-control method has been based on controlling physicians supposed “bad behavior” while keeping them responsible for the outcome. You just can’t allow patients to demand everything they want, backed by a runaway legal system, override physicians decisions, choke off their money supply and still hold physicians responsible. The pathological complacency of physicians…
