 THE MYTH OF FREE HEALTH CAREChapter 31 in Capitalism in the 21st Century:Why Global Capitalism Is Broken and How It Can Be Fixed, 2019, pp 135-137 from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. Abstract: Health care is another activity in which governments around the world are involved, to varying degrees. In some countries, the government is in the business of providing health care, and in some other countries, the government does not provide health care but provides health insurance. It is not obvious why the government should be in the health care business or health insurance business. After all, when I consult a doctor, receive treatment and medicine, or undergo a heart bypass surgery, I am the one who benefits and the only one who benefits. In that sense, the health care business is no different from the automobile business or the perfume business or the laptop business. One argument for government intervention in health care is that a society where everybody is healthy benefits all members of society, for example by preventing an epidemic of contagious diseases. Therefore, the government should provide health care to all, or so the argument goes. It is a lame argument… Keywords: Capitalism; Globalization; Inequality; Entrepreneur; Financial Industry; Government; Socialism; Market (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:wschap:9789813274242_0031 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in World Scientific Book Chapters from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.