Scandal or SOP?

Standard Operating Procedure for government work.

Ronald Bailey on Reason Magazine’s Hit & Run blog hits a theme I also heard from Fred Barnes on FOXNews last night. The "scandalous" treatment of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed is indeed an outrage, but it is also how the government does business and what we should expect when we create our own American version of the UK's NHS:

Well, look no further than the scandalous mess at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Crappy hospitals, endless waits, mountains of paperwork and, at the end of the day, no real accountability from the people who run the joint. Folks, if the government can't or won't take good care of our injured soldiers, what makes you think that it will take good care of little Sally or Uncle Bill?

Health care in the United States is screwed up. This is largely due to bad government policies, e.g., third party payment encouraged through the tax code and multiplying state insurance mandates that unnecessarily boost costs. As the example of Walter Reed is warning us, putting total control of all health care in the hands of those who wrecked it in first place--Congress, states and federal agencies--is the wrong way to go.

Hat-tip: Everyday Economist

Pharmaceuticals Posted by jk at March 7, 2007 12:50 PM