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A Stitch in Haste

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine … But Haste Makes Waste

A collection of real-world libertarian, individualist and laissez-faire rants on law, economics, politics, culture and other current events
by an average, everyday lawyer & investment banker and part-time pop scholar.


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Entries Tagged as 'Socialized Medicine'

Socialized Medicine: A Quick "Kennedy is an Ass" Note

November 9th, 2008 · 1 Comment

Can't quite fit this on Twitter:
I'm sure opponents will dust off the same old slogans they have used to try to block every major advance in health care. They will call it "socialized medicine" and a "government takeover," just as they did when they opposed Medicare and the children's health program — and they are [...]

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Tags: Socialized Medicine

Lies, Damned Lies, and Nursing Homes

September 30th, 2008 · 1 Comment

I was all set to cite this New York Times article on violation rates in nursing homes simply in a "Questions" entry: Shouldn't a supposed "right to health care" include a right to violation-free nursing home care? Etc.
But I'm changing tack after having read the whole piece:
More than 90 percent of nursing homes were cited [...]

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Tags: Socialized Medicine

Socialized Medicine: How the NHS Rations Health Care

August 18th, 2008 · 1 Comment

To review: Health care, however defined, is a scarce good like any other good or service. And like any other scarce good or service, it must be rationed. The only question is how it will be rationed — by private market forces (perhaps bounded by a minimal, humane social safety net for the truly incompetent) [...]

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Tags: Foreign Affairs · Socialized Medicine

"The Need to Conserve Limited Medical Resources"

August 13th, 2008 · 2 Comments

A federal district judge has ruled that New York State's Medicaid program may deny a certain indigent person a certain operation because the state has a legitimate interest in "conserving limited medical resources."
As I have said ad nauseum: the notion that an economy can provide all the health care that everyone needs or wants is [...]

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Tags: Gay Rights and Issues · Law · New York City & State · Socialized Medicine

Socialized Medicine: Is "Immensely Popular" a Proper Metric?

August 12th, 2008 · 4 Comments

In yesterday's New York Times, Paul Krugman does what he does best:

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Tags: Economics & Finance · Socialized Medicine

Is Retiring "Unpatriotic"?

August 7th, 2008 · No Comments

You know the standard libertarian anti-conscription talking point about how the reason societies are so willing to engage in it is because of age-based majoritarianism (i.e., older people who would not be drafted outnumber younger people who would be drafted)?
Scratch that one off the list:
Want to do something truly patriotic to help preserve the American [...]

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Tags: Economics & Finance · Socialized Medicine

Socialized Medicine: More on Means Testing

July 23rd, 2008 · No Comments

Tyler Cowen has a follow-up on means testing generally (see my earlier post on his call for means testing of Medicare specifically):
Hardly anyone wants to endorse means-testing but almost everyone is for it. Of course Medicaid, food stamps, HUD housing assistance, and many other programs are already means-tested.
Perhaps, but many government programs that should be [...]

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Tags: Economics & Finance · Libertarianism · Socialized Medicine

"Comment Left Elsewhere" of the Day

July 21st, 2008 · 1 Comment

To review: Health care, like any other good or service, is scarce and must therefore be rationed. The only question is how it will be rationed: by private market forces as determined by patients, physicians (and, yes, insurance companies) — or by politicians and bureaucrats.
The inability to see this simple economic truth — that we [...]

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Tags: Libertarianism · Social Security · Socialized Medicine

Socialized Medicine: NHS Denies Free Drug to Dying Man

July 21st, 2008 · 1 Comment

Behold the latest example of the "universal right to health care" —
Barrie Clark, 61, was told in May that he could receive a free supply of a new kidney cancer drug on compassionate grounds from the pharmaceuticals company that makes it.
Clark was then astonished to be told by the NHS that he could [...]

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Tags: Socialized Medicine

Another "Just Testing" Emotional Distress Incident

June 18th, 2008 · No Comments

For those who were righteously indignant after reading my recent post about an incident involving some California educrats and law enforcement officials maliciously tormenting students by falsely informing them that their classmates had been killed in DUI accidents ("we want them to be traumatized"), may I offer you a denouement?
An unsuspecting mother was accused by [...]

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Tags: Foreign Affairs · Law Enforcement Abuses · Socialized Medicine