Friday, May 25, 2012

Reminder that Government Kills People

If you put up barriers to becoming a doctor, you get fewer doctors. The doctors you do get become more expensive, as supply decreases.

How many barriers does the West put up in front of prospective doctors?

In Somalia, a physical costs about 50c. Assuming their abject poverty numbers aren't massaged to within an inch of their lives, that means the poorest Somalian spends half a day's wage on a physical.

In America, a physical costs about $130, corresponding to a daily wage of $260 or about $33/hour for an 8-hour day.

Of course anyone actually earning more than $30 an hour just about doesn't care. It is only the poor who can't afford it. It is the poor who die because the doctor that could have helped them couldn't be bothered to get a license. (Presumably went into finance instead.)

Canadians would claim this is why they have the government pay for it. Fantasy. Obviously the richer neighbourhoods have better doctors. If nothing else, hospitals are partly funded by property taxes. Add in public choice, and I start to wonder if Lovecraft really wrote fiction. Orwell clearly didn't. Reduce supply AND lower wages? Hey guys, I wonder why Canada has issues getting enough doctors. I guess they must hate poor people.

Licensing: kills people. Residency: kills people. College requirement for med school: kills people. Almost every health regulation: kills people.

Of course, of course it is impossible that legislators would ever be considered complicit in murder. They can pretty much strangle any amount of people with regulations; you'd hit the 'society collapses' ceiling before you hit the credibility ceiling.

Have a nice day.

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