It’s worth pointing out a few real possibilities under a universal care system:

1.  Less access to treatments and procedures available now, especially new and cutting edge technologies for those who can afford, and often drive, such experimental treatments potentially benefitting everyone (which is why so many people worldwide come to the U.S for treatment).

2.  Less freedom for patients to see other doctors, and get second opinions or utilize other providers which could offer very different treatment options and approaches, or at least have access to these providers in theory, if not in practice, due to money.

3. More institutionalized treatment, and less personalized care for many.  More waiting lists.  I don’t necessarily want money and “customer service” to be the only driver of my care at the patient/doctor level, but I in no way expect it to be removed entirely nor managed particularly well by federal bureaucrats (and certainly not any better than it’s managed now by HMOs and insurance companies).  This law requires a huge, unwieldy apparatus constantly trying to get all players in line, making new regulations, becoming a major political force (and source of money, power, and likely fraud), also making decisions five years behind the times.

4.  A politically interested group of activists using this system to eventually get to single-payer, entrenching their interests in our politics, and driving political change according to their aims.

A few thoughts and nothing that hasn’t been said elsewhere.

Related On This Site: From The New England Journal Of Medicine Via CATO: ‘The Constitutionality of the Individual Mandate’

From If-Then Knots: Health Care Is Not A Right…But Then Neither Is Property?… From The New Yorker: Atul Gawande On Health Care-”The Cost Conundrum”…Sally Pipes At Forbes: ‘A Plan That Leads Health Care To Nowhere’…Peter Suderman At The WSJ: ‘Obamacare And The Medicaid Mess’