As a libertarian, I believe in small government. So, libertarian me thinks the government should not have a role in enforcing any price restrictions on insurance, it also should not be a provider of insurance. Or maybe libertarian me only thinks that about the federal government. Yet, humanitarian me believes people should always have proper access to medical care and a doctor. Why should people's health be effected simply because they do not have money? Libertarian me answers: because the free market economy operates on money, people won't provide healthcare for free, services are never free. Maybe private organizations can make up for the discrepancy (but then that would just drive up the cost..).
And according to International Human Rights law... the government has an obligation to ensure equal access to health care. Yes, I am a Libertarian. But I also believe in International Laws. I do not have an answer for how to solve the healthcare problem: I don't know who should provide it or who should pay for it. I am only able to recognize the problem with the current system. Maybe in time I can pinpoint all the factors that are causing the problems, and with that knowledge develop some sort of theory of a solution. More realistically, though, there isn't a solution at all.
From a politically philosophical viewpoint (talking about small government ideals as a libertarian), international law is no different than national law. It's government control vs not.
ReplyDeleteI would just caution you to avoid falling into the trap that many Democrats set for libertarians by convincing people that libertarian means anarchist. Libertarians support government. We just want it to be as small as is feasible, but we still want some government. Democrats like to say that libertarians don't want any government at all, and then point out all the bad things that happen with no government intervention, in this case people having no access to healthcare. But just because we are libertarians doesn't mean we have to not support the healthcare bill. I personally don't support it because over the past year more and more organizations are coming out with studies saying it will cost everyone more money in the long run. I also look at the example of Europe, which has universal health care, and is now beginning to struggle under catastrophic debt.
I think the point I'm trying to make is, if you are against it, be against it for the reason that it doesn't work, not that libertarianism forces you to because it's government intervention at all.