Who does your doctor work for?  Does your doctor work for you?  Or for a non-physician unelected bureacrat healthcare administrator?

Moving into socialized medicine will eventually lead to physicians taking their marching orders from pre-set, one-size-fits-all guidelines set forth by committees of government appointed bureacrats, not from from their medical training, and not from their patients.  Control over fees inevitably leads to control over the practices that are followed.  Replacing voluntary arrangements with compulsory governmental arrangements is a bad idea.  With Obamacare, you will see less access to care, the care will be lower quality, and the costs to us all will be greater.  Patients are the employers of their physicians and should control the fees, not the government through artificial price fixing.

In a 1976 presentation at the University of Chicago, Swedish physician and professor of medicine, Gunnar Biork, presented his paper "How To Be A Clinician In A Socialist Country."  Here are some timeless quotes from that paper:

WASHINGTON -- Libertarian National Chair, Mark Hinkle, released the following statement today:

“Last month, the joint war on liberty by Republicans and Democrats continued, when Attorney General Eric Holder informed surprised students and faculty at Northwestern University Law School that President Obama can kill anyone in the world without charge or trial. This, of course, is just acceptance of the Unitary Executive Theory which President George W. Bush utilized to ignore the courts during his administration. Needless to say, both Presidents, Bush and Obama, assured us that they would be careful to only use their unlimited powers for the benefit of their subjects.

“Libertarians say this is not good enough. Until recently, most Americans believed that they could not be deprived of their life, liberty or property without due process of law. The very idea of having people judged by a jury of their peers was to limit the ability of politicians to act as if they were monarchs.

“Nowhere is this bipartisan disgrace better demonstrated than in the ongoing saga of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Bush established this camp in January 2002 so that he could claim the prisoners held there were outside US legal jurisdiction. When the Supreme Court rejected that administration’s quaint new category of people who were neither accused criminals, subject to the protections of habeas corpus, nor prisoners of war, subject to the protections of the Geneva Convention, Bush began to use military tribunals in which US military officers operated as both judge and jury.  As Groucho Marx once said, `Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.’ 

“Conveniently, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 gave Bush both the legislative cover and official acceptance of his newly-minted category of enemy combatant. At that time, most Democrats voted against this law, while in 2008, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama called for regular civilian trials and the closing of Guantanamo. Needless to say, upon election President Obama decided instead to continue both the tribunals and the indefinite detentions at Guantanamo.

“It is far too late to talk about due process for the Guantanamo prisoners. Of the nearly 800 men and boys sent there, most were released after years of imprisonment without ever being charged, let alone convicted of anything. Eight have died in custody. A total of three have been convicted: one for making an anti-American video, one for being a chauffeur for Bin Laden, and one in a vague plea bargain in exchange for his release. Of the remaining 171 detainees, most have already been cleared for release but are still being held. And for the few still awaiting a hearing, the legacy of torture based evidence taints the entire process. Fair trials are impossible at this point.

“Let us end this farce NOW. While no single policy can ever guarantee our safety, we are far more endangered by a government which has justifiably earned the contempt of the world than we are by a few more people running free who are angry at the US. Releasing the innocent is far more important than accidentally keeping a few who might be guilty. Close Guantanamo and restore due process.

Which poses a bigger threat to America? Americans whom politicians claim are a threat? Or the politicians themselves?

Washington- Stop Destroying Jobs So The Economy Can Grow

WASHINGTON: Libertarian National Chair, Mark Hinkle, released the following statement today:

“The Obama administration is crowing about a drop in the unemployment rate to 8.3% in February 2012. Unfortunately, a large part of the decline since the 10.0% peak reached earlier in his term is the result of people who have given up looking for work. In fact, the percentage of working-age Americans currently unemployed stands at 36.3%, the highest rate of his administration and the worst since the 1980s. 

“Libertarians running for local, state and federal offices offer several proposals that can help end what is becoming a permanent disaster for the economy. At the state and local levels occupational licensing laws, zoning and building codes block tens of millions from entering or changing professions and from starting their own small businesses. Regulation, in general, is a job killer: the states with the heaviest regulatory burdens are usually the ones with the highest unemployment rates.

“But Washington, DC is the job-killing champion. The current collapse in employment, especially among minorities and younger potential workers, coincided with the ratcheting up of the federal minimum wage by more than 40% in 3 steps in the summers of 2007, 2008, and 2009. It’s hardly surprising that the unemployment rate, after steadily dropping for 4 years, bottomed at 4.4% in the spring of 2007, just before the first increase, and peaked at 10.0% in the fall of 2009, shortly after the final one. 

“The real problem is that the true minimum wage is $0.00, the amount you make when you don’t have a job. Increasing the minimum wage did NOT give everybody a 40% raise; instead, it threw millions of workers into unemployment. The employer health insurance mandate in ObamaCare will probably do the same -- which may be why that mandate is scheduled to go into effect AFTER the presidential election. 

“It is enough to make me scream ‘Don’t just do something, sit there!’ Given enough time and a stable legal environment, the economy has a chance to start growing again. And with some Libertarians in office, maybe we can repeal some of these laws and grow even faster.” 

If We Want Better Health Insurance For All, Why Are We Making It Illegal?

LP Chair: If We Want Better Health Insurance For All, Why Are We Making It Illegal?

WASHINGTON --  Libertarian National Committee Chair, Mark Hinkle, released the following statement today:

“While President Obama and the Republicans in Congress spend time debating whether religious groups must provide their employees free contraceptives, a far more fundamental issue is being ignored: if we want better health insurance for all, why are we making it illegal?

“ObamaCare, known in Massachusetts as RomneyCare, effectively outlaws true health insurance. Insurance, if you think about it, should exist to protect you against catastrophic expenditures. For example, car insurance doesn’t cover the cost of gas and oil, as it would be outrageously expensive due to the incentive for increased driving. Similarly, health insurance should not cover ordinary and predictable costs, yet remains outrageously expensive because it does.

“Then why do consumers continue to buy overpriced insurance that covers predictable costs? Government. First, the senseless connection of health insurance to employment is the result of a system that taxes cash wages but not health benefits, punishing employees who would rather have higher cash wages while making their own personal choice of health coverage.  Second, special interests in every state have lobbied legislators to mandate coverage for their particular product or service. Finally, regulation not only drives up the cost of healthcare, but also restricts entry into the field, leading to even higher prices.

“The result is this: if you want inexpensive health insurance, but don’t want coverage for alcoholism, weight loss programs and baldness treatments, and would prefer a deductible based on your personal finances: TOUGH. Even if you’re not stuck with your employer’s choices, the type of individually tailored coverage you want is illegal.

“Instead of ObamaRomneyCare, we need to decriminalize good health insurance. Eliminate the coverage mandates, the laws against purchasing health insurance across state lines, and the unfavorable tax treatment of personal insurance policies. Remove the regulations that block entry of new insurers, including charitable organizations which could provide catastrophic protection for the poor and the club-based insurance policies that were once popular before the insurance industry and American Medical Association both pushed to make them illegal.

“As for contraception? Women shouldn’t need a permission slip from their doctor to have safe sex. Removing the prescription requirement would massively reduce the cost of contraceptives, making it far more affordable. In turn, this would ease the burden on groups such as Planned Parenthood that have long provided free contraceptives to those in need.”