Friday, May 16, 2008

Price-Fixing in Government Health Care

By John LaPlante

P.J. O'Rourke's recent talk to a Cato Institute audience (PDF link) is worth a read, in some measure because of his comments on health care politics.

"Another thing that gets me about Hillary is this: why is price-fixing such a great thing when she does it, but if a couple of businessmen get together on the golf course that's a big crime?"

Since the name of this site is State House Call, I'll say this: Substitute the name of any number of governors and legislators for "Hillary," and the problem remains. So often, government attempts at "health care reform" mean government-imposed price controls on health care services.