It’s elemental, Hippocrates!

There’s much talk about the undesired effects – e.g. higher premiums of insurance plans - of the so-called ACA (Affordable Care Act), actually the Forced Enrollment & Subsidization of Care Act. In fact, a new POTUSA – Donald Trump - was even elected by saying that he could eliminate those effects. Of course, sayin’ and doin’ are often very different things. So what might?

The only way to reduce the price of anything, is to decrease the demand and/or to increase the supply. This applies to health care as well as everything else. As long as more and more people are entitled to treatment (by force and/or by subsidy) and the supply of providers is limited by politically-enforced monopolies and other interference by politicians, the price will continue to increase. It won’t stop because there are more middle-people (i.e. insurance companies).

The trouble is that people have gotten so accustomed to having providers “certified” by monopolies, that they are afraid of anything different. So, eliminating that most likely won’t happen. What’s left? Nothing. Get used to ever increasing insurance prices and provider costs. One can’t be covered for everything for as long as necessary at whatever lifetime cost, and still have low insurance prices. Price controls won’t do it: they just reduce the supply.

Once again, there is no substitute for competition and freedom.