According to the Washington Free Beacon, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has hit upon what he thinks is a very good idea to push his dream for a government-run, single-payer health care system. He has produced a video that shows testimonials from people like Warren Buffet, Michael Moore, and Al Gore talking about what a wonderful system single-payer would be. However, Sanders has missed the mark, even with Buffet, who, despite his obvious acumen for making money, does not know the first thing about the economics of health care.
Why rich people do not care what kind of health care system exists
The problem with getting testimonials from rich people to sell something like Great Britain’s National Health Service in America is that none of them will be required to use its services. People like Buffet, Moore, and Gore are wealthy enough that they have private clinics and concierge doctors available. They would not have to put up with the assembly line service, horrid conditions, waiting lists, and the lack of the latest technology -- all features of government-run health care in Great Britain and Canada.
If Al Gore had a grandson who had the same condition that Charlie Gard had, the infant would not be forced to languish in an NHS bed hooked up to a ventilator.
He would get the same kind of treatment that was offered to the Gards in America but was denied them by the UK courts and health care bureaucracy.
Moore, who’s film “Sicko” was a propaganda screed for government health care, expressed considerable ignorance about how medicine is handled in other countries. Germany and Switzerland do not have socialist health care like Great Britain or Canada, but a mixed system similar to Obamacare.
What was Bernie thinking?
Sanders has found that socialism can be very lucrative to people who advocate it, if not for people who have to live under it. He has become wealthy, owning three homes, and lives the good life that most people only aspire to. Sanders is demonstrating the classic symptoms of someone who has become out of touch with reality by having too much money.
It can be argued that Sanders was never very familiar with the way things are, even when he lived in a shack, but now he has the profile and wealth to demonstrate that fact for all to see.
People are not going to be sold on single-payer health care because of celebrity endorsements. The way we go to doctors is not a brand of soft drink or canned tuna. Once government-run health care is imposed, backing out of it will be next to impossible.
