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Friday, February 14, 2020

Welfarism 35, Healthcare is not personal/parental responsibility, only state responsibility

The most socialistic sectors in society, that their services are not individual or parental or civil society responsibility but only state responsibility, are (1) education and (2) healthcare (HC). Free education until college, free HC until surgery and medicines. People can spend on nice gadgets and cool appliances, cars and travels, etc but they should not spend for their children's education and their own family's HC. Education and HC are rights and entitlements, not personal or household responsibility. Now more sectors are added to entitlements like housing, irrigation, etc. Lousy socialistic thinking.

Peter Wallace wrote this last February 6:

"Government health services must be completely free. This can be done if we continue to increase public spending on health. The funds are available, a historic budget of P172 billion this year, and growing from sin taxes."

I wrote to him:

Hi Peter, You have become a health socialist, inconsistent with your advocacy for more market reforms. Health is not just a right. It is a responsibility. Personal, household, civil society responsibility, more than state responsibility. If people have the money to buy alcohol, fatty food, tobacco, lots of food and be sedentary, expensive bicycles for steep downhill rides, etc. -- why can't they also buy private health insurance? Why should healthcare be free for all? Come on. Thank you.

Meanwhile, I like this illustration.



I think a good compromise is that public HC is universal for infectious, contagious and communicable diseases. Like malaria, polio, and now corona virus. For non-infectious, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like cancer, hypertension, stroke, etc., it should be private health insurance plus support by local governments and private charities. Then people can say that HC is mainly personal and parental responsibility, not just state responsibility and an entitlement.
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See also:
Cicero, welfarism and fiscal irresponsibility, August 11, 2016
Welfarism 32, On forcing restaurants to give their excess food to charities, July 27, 2016 
Welfarism 33, Janitor turned lawyer, self-reliance vs welfare-dependence, May 05, 2017 

Welfarism 34, Larry Reed on poverty and self-reliance, December 07, 2019

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