by Hal Eaton » Fri Mar 02, 2012 8:01 pm
Late, as usual -- ET, on Feb. 11, wrote, "Price controls do not work. Never have. Never will. Should you can (sic) to do so, you can go back as far as 2000+ years to find that out."
He obviously did not experience price controls, rental controls, all kinds of such conrols during and after WWII. The failures of the practice were due to the finaglers who bent the rules, cheated their neighbors, and bragged about their wisdom.
Beyond that, ET is evidently not aware of the tremendous price controls now being carried on by the US government.
There are approximately 3,290,000 military retirees in the country today. They, and their dependents, are curently receiving medical care through "TriCare" and Medicare. When a medical practitioner performs a procedure on one of these millions, he/she labels the act with one of a lengthy series of government-devised codes which describes the process and tells how much can be charged for same. There is an "allowed charge" for every one of the thousands of codes. The doctor can charge more, but can receive only the approved amount.
I have previously detailed on this forum how we have been charged $100,000 for our care, but the government has allowed only $38,000 to be paid. I have about 8 inches of file space for the paperwork (one sheet per procedure) covering the past 40 years of my retirement, and for my wife as well.
I have acquired over five feet of surgical scars, and currently take 13 medications daily, plus two shots, and am in good physical condition, for which I am grateful.
That's price control, and it works wonderfully well, despite the opinions expressed herein . . .
Single payer, anyone?
It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry. -- Thomas Paine