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Understanding True Free-Market Medical Health Insurance


These days we constantly hear people debating to what extent the government should be involved in the business and application of medical health insurance and/or medical access. Aside from the many constructive discussions on conservative radio talk shows, various conservative blogs, and Fox News broadcasts, there isn’t much discussion anywhere about what it would actually mean to have a true, laissez-faire, completely unregulated, non-licensed, fully competitive, entrepreneurially and innovatively focused, voluntarily cooperative, free-market approach (true capitalism) to medical health insurance, along with true individual freedom in dealing with health and medical issues and insurance without any government interference.

“We The People” (meaning, we the American public) are currently learning a tremendous amount about the dangers and problems that arise from allowing the government to interfere with, regulate, and control our personal lives and the economy -- more specifically, the dangerous and disastrous effects of the government interfering with our right to freely pursue medical health insurance and services. While it is very important to understand such dangers and problems, I want to instead focus on another aspect, a positive aspect, of allowing the unregulated free-market economy (capitalism) to completely function freely and unhindered by government in a free society, where individual rights and property rights are protected by a constitutionally limited government, in our individual pursuit of “medical health insurance and services” happiness.

So, aside from the limited medical health insurance options that already exist in today’s miserably government controlled economy, let’s take a fresh look at what sorts of products, services, options, and other possibilities that could become available in the medical health insurance industry from a true, laissez-faire, completely unregulated, non-licensed, fully competitive, entrepreneurially and innovatively focused, voluntarily cooperative, free-market approach (true capitalism), with true individual freedom and pursuit of happiness -- with no “universal health care,” or no “public option,” or any sort of government interference, restriction, regulation, mandate, control, or limitation. The following list is by no means conclusive, for in a true free-market system “the sky’s the limit,” and human ingenuity (our one true renewable resource) is limitless in true freedom. Here’s my contribution.

Eight Examples of True Free-Market Medical Health Insurance products, services, applications, and options

1. Complete unregulated development, innovation, and competition for medical health insurance and consumer demands between any-and-all insurance companies, businesses, and providers anywhere within or outside the United States, with no government interference, restriction, regulation, mandate, control, or limitations on economic freedom, exchanges, development, and/or competition for products and services across state borders. For example: If you live in Montana, and wish to buy a custom medical health insurance policy from a company or organization in Florida, or from one in New Zealand (if available), you would be free to do so. Or, if you wanted to buy some sort of custom dental insurance from a source in Texas, and then purchase a separate policy for major medical from another source in Colorado, you would be free to do so. (Special interests, of any sort, would not be able to lobby Congress to mandate, restrict, or control any aspect of the insurance industry -- or any other part of commerce -- under true capitalism.)

2.
No government enforced medical health insurance monopolies would be allowed to exist through any sort of government mandate, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Geico, Medicaid, Medicare, etc. Any and all medical health insurance would be completely private.

3.
No organization, business, or corporation would be forced by government mandate and decree to provide medical health insurance for their employees or members. Providing or not providing medical health insurance for its employees would be the sole decision of the organization, business, or corporation (protection of property rights). In addition, any arrangement beneficial to both employer and employee could also be possible in an unregulated, free-market economy. Also, employees, as private individuals, would have the freedom to shop for their own medical health insurance needs in a completely unregulated economy (protection of individual rights). --- Remember, under true laissez-faire capitalism -- with a constitutionally limited government whose only purpose is to protect individual rights, including property rights, through military, police, and an objective justice system -- there are no taxes, so the private citizen and all businesses would have all that extra disposable income (that is now confiscated in taxes) to use without restriction as required, wanted, or needed by each individual and/or business, including the purchase of medical health insurance, whose price is constantly being lowered through free-market competition.

4.
Any individual, group, organization, business, or corporation could compete openly and freely for, and possibly provide (completely guilt free), any type, form, product, service, option, or combination-variation thereof, of medical health insurance to the general consumer anywhere in the United States (or the world), if they wished to and were capable of doing so, offered to any individual or group they chose. For example: medical health insurance could be developed and sold by the likes of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Wal-Mart, Target, McDonalds, Home Depot, Visa, Pizza Hut, church groups, The American Cancer Society, AARP (without government interference or special favor), Disney, State Farm, hospitals, credit unions, Bank of America or any other bank, National Rifle Association, Fox News, private universities, private individuals, or even some national model railroad hobby association for its members. --- The point is that, under true capitalism, anyone and everyone, anywhere, can openly compete to provide and sell their own unique medical health insurance product or service to anyone anywhere, if they so wish and are able to, providing limitless options, products, services, and competitive pricing of medical health insurance to the consumer wherever there is a demand for it -- and since there are no price controls in a true free-market economy, there is constant competition among businesses to keep lowering the prices of their products and services for consumer demand. Such is the nature of capitalism. And all individuals, groups, organizations, businesses, and corporations are also completely free to shop for, acquire, and/or purchase such medical health insurance if they so wish, from anyone they so wish and/or are able to, from anywhere in the country, or from anywhere in the world (the application of true individual freedom).

5.
There would be constant and complete open competition among insurance-providing businesses, competition to lower the pricing and costs for medical health insurance products and services offered in the free-market economy to the consumer, as there would exist no price or wage controls mandated, issued, controlled, and/or enforced by the government, and there would exist no restrictions on competition, innovation, and development. Under true capitalism, the government’s only function is to protect individual rights, including property rights, and not to regulate, mandate, or provide health and/or medical health insurance, or related products and services, including their sale and/or development.

6.
Some of these individuals, groups, organizations, businesses, or corporations interested in offering and selling medical health insurance may even wish to provide such offered insurance for a very low cost, or even free of charge, if they so desired and/or were capable of doing so -- because they would be free to do so under true capitalism, with no government interference or regulation to stop them. That would be their choice and prerogative. How could they do it? For example: Because companies like Wal-Mart or Sears might become so unimaginably financially successful under true capitalism (no regulation of commerce) with limitless profits -- and were free to openly compete unhindered by government -- they would then be free to offer perhaps hundreds (if not thousands) of variations of medical health insurance policies, plans, and packages to the general public, at very low prices, if they wanted and were able to, and perhaps even offer medical health insurance coverage free of charge to certain individuals who might qualify for such insurance based solely of their income levels, financial needs, or some other requirement. Such good will to consumers and society would also undoubtedly increase the popularity of Wal-Mart or Sears, again increasing competition for providing good, reliable, and inexpensive medical health insurance, as well as adding to and increasing the general competition for all other products and services, therefore increasing even further good will -- and on and on. The truly poor would definitely benefit from such limitless competition and good will -- no government could even begin to compete with such a system (as no government should compete for any products or services in the economy; that is not the function of government). And, most importantly, such competitive and inexpensive medical health insurance would be completely provided through the private, capitalistic system at no expense or violation to other private individuals, groups, organizations, businesses, or corporations -- and no property rights would be violated in the process, such as the government forcing taxes on others to pay for government welfare and other subsidies. As an aside, companies such as Wal-Mart or Sears under true capitalism would also be free to establish hospitals and/or health clinics, if they so wanted and were able to, and offer top-notch and inexpensive health services and/or medical treatments to the general public as a whole, maybe even some basic medical services for free. Wal-Mart already offers inexpensive pharmaceutical products. Why not whole medical services, including complete hospital facilities? In a true free-market, the government would not be able to prevent them from doing so.

7.
Other options besides, or in addition to, medical health insurance would become available on a grand scale, such as private physician practices, hospitals, or clinics offering clients -- that is, patients, also know as customers (there now, that wasn’t so hard to say) -- monthly or quarterly fees to retain a doctor’s, or hospital’s, or clinic’s selected products and/or services as needed or required in such an agreement (similar to a retainer paid for a lawyer’s services). Even in our troubled times today, there are a few doctors who already offer such a monthly fee to clients for selected services, costs ranging from $40 a month for a good doctor’s general services, to a more elaborate, customized private doctor service whose fee may reach several hundred dollars a month, or even more -- and then of course, everything else in between. Something for all.

8.
In a true free-market economy and free society (capitalism), there would be no government interference, restriction, regulation, mandate, control, or limitation of what type, form, product, service, option, or combination-variation thereof, of medical health insurance offered or sold to the general consumer, or where such medical insurance may be offered or sold, or to whom it may be offered or sold. For example:

-- A particular insurance policy might offer only insurance for broad cancer care.

-- Or, a particular insurance policy might cover only cancer insurance to women, and maybe only for breast cancer, or ovarian cancer, or for both, or for some other cancer.

-- Or, an individual, organization, or company may offer only cancer insurance to men, and maybe only for prostate cancer, or lung cancer, or for both, or for some other cancer.

-- Or, any number of organizations or companies could compete for cancer-only insurance.

-- Or, a particular insurance policy might offer to cover everything except cancer care.

-- Or, a particular insurance policy might cover only kidney failure, or heart attacks, or parasitical infections, or all of them, or any combination thereof.

-- Or, a particular insurance policy might cover absolutely everything, including even basic health maintenance, such as annual checkups, physicals, teeth cleaning, etc.

-- Or, a particular insurance policy might cover only major medical, such as accidents, a major medical crisis, etc., and be free not to offer anything for health maintenance issues.

-- Or, a particular insurance policy might cover only teeth care, or eye care, etc.

-- Or, the consumer might be able to customize their medical health insurance to fit their own individual needs, wants, and desires.

-- Or, an organization or company may offer and/or wish to sell medical health insurance to cover only women, or men, or children of a certain age, or seniors of a certain age, or only to company employees, or only for families with children, or couples without children, or single adults, etc.

-- Or, an insurance entrepreneur might provide and sell medical insurance only to pregnant women, and perhaps customize such insurance for a nine-to-ten month duration.

-- Or, an individual or company could acquire and/or purchase their desired type of medical health insurance from any number of individuals, groups, organizations, businesses, or corporations from anywhere in the United States, or even from outside the U.S., if available, with a limitless choice of pricings and costs, including very inexpensive, even free of charge, insurance policies. See item No. 6 above.

-- Or, an individual or group might be able to pick and choose various medical coverings from a sort of medical health insurance menu, much the same as choosing items from a restaurant menu, customizing their private policy to cover what their particular desires, wants, or needs might be, at a broad range of prices and costs they want or can afford to pay.

-- Or, an individual, organization, or company may offer to customize a medical health insurance plan and policy for a particular individual, group, or company. They would be free to do so, with no government regulation or control.

And, on and on… What do you imagine?

If any of this gets you excited about what could be possible for medical insurance under a true, laissez-faire, free-market economy (capitalism), just imagine what could be possible for any other type of insurance, or for any-and-all types of medical and health care, or, for that matter, what could be possible for:

n       the field of education,

n       our energy wants and needs,

n       the agriculture industry,

n       jobs and careers (yes, labor is also a competitive resource),

n       starting a business,

n       transportation and communications,

n       food and shelter,

n       leisure and vacations,

n       hobbies and entertainment,

n       research and development,

n       innovation and invention,

n       charity and humanitarian activities,

n       and, yes, even for the banking and financial market (as no forced federal reserve would even exist under true capitalism, and a gold standard would be the true standard value of all monetary exchange and agreements).

Just plug in your favorite topic. The “sky’s the limit” under true laissez-faire capitalism with no government interference, regulation, or control. The possibilities are endless under individual freedom and a true free-market economy. Your choice. Just imagine.

See my blog Capitalism vs. Statism at http://www.capitalism-vs-statism.blogspot.com/.
 
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