"socialized medicine is a failure..."
If you say so... but since I've not posted any arguments FOR 'socialized medicine', I don't see what that has to do with me....
I simply posting an article about the AMA's views on whether the government should be allowed to negotiate for lower prices... the same as any other purchaser.
Trying to find the lowest market-clearing price would seem to be an element of Capitalism, not 'Socialism'.
"for that matter socialism is a failure...."
This last comment seems to be a bit off topic, but I'll make a stab at it: I certainly agree that Communism has failed on the world stage, but 'Socialism' appears to be an even larger component of many of the world's economies then ever before --- including the US's.
Economists call an economy comprised of various 'parts' (free market parts, regulated monopoly parts, government social programs organized as 'wealth transfer programs' or 'social insurance' parts) a "modern mixed economy".
Nearly every economy in the world could be so described... with elements of socialism imbedded into the organizing structure of the nation.
For example, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Farm Price Supports, etc., etc., etc. are properly considered to be organized along Socialist, not Free Market principles.
I would only argue that it's hard to describe some principle that is in near universal world-wide use, (and growing in it's use, including in the US, as in the recent major expansion of Medicare) as a "failure". |
