Apparently RomneyCare just hasn't fixed all of Massachusetts' health care woes.
Bay State residents are still paying exorbitant amounts for, in the words of our last governor, "repairs." Health care costs have gone up by 60 percent in the past six years. On Monday, Massachusetts State Senate President Therese Murray came out with a health care reform plan. But what are these reforms that Senator Murray is trying to push through?
Several of them are sensible, good ideas. Nurses would be able to take on more of the jobs traditionally only doctors could do, and if this passes, insurance plans will need to recognize them as primary care physicians. Students at UMass who are planning on pursuing medicine would get a tuition break. Medical records would all be electronic by 2015.
Drug companies will no longer be able to give doctors pens or pads of paper emblazoned with their logo; if this proposal passes, doctors will need to buy their own pens. The idea is that doctors currently prescribe drugs because they have seen a drug's name too many times on their stationery. They make health care decisions the same way you decide between Coke and Pepsi - they pick the one with the coolest swag. Perhaps there is something to this. Doctors are people and do make mistakes. Preventing drug companies from giving them free stuff isn't going to do any harm.
However, one of Senator Murray's proposals will do a lot of damage if it gets passed. She, in her infinite wisdom, has suggested that insurance firms who want to raise rates more than seven percent need to go before a public board and justify their decision. Price controls, however, do not work, and if this proposal becomes law, Massachusetts residents are likely to see the quality of health care decline significantly.
Prices are the results of the decisions, desires and needs of millions of people. They take into account shortages halfway around the world and the changing demand for goods and services. They balance the costs of providing a service with the benefits that it provides.
Prices are not arbitrary numbers. The government shouldn't mess with them. They reflect an economic reality that can't be legislated away. Sometimes, the free market doesn't account for things that it should, like the cost of pollution. In these cases, the government does need to step in. I don't want to make a fetish out of the free market.
Price controls, however, have been demonstrated time and again to simply compound human misery. For example, in the 1970s, Nixon imposed price controls to stop inflation. They didn't work. Take a look at rent control, which limits the amount that landlords can charge - thereby discouraging repairs and maintenance of apartment buildings. If landlords can't charge more, then they will cut costs and provide less.
You might say that health care is somehow different from real estate or other businesses. Because it deals with human lives, price controls are therefore justified. But health care is not fundamentally different from other industries - it is just more important.
It is a service that is performed by doctors, nurses, lab technicians and many others. If they are to provide the best quality of care, they need to get paid enough to make it worth their time. Price controls would prevent the health care industry from getting the resources that they need to take care of their patients. Senator Murray should abandon price controls - ultimately, they do not work.
Xander Zebrose is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at Alexander.Zebrose@tufts.edu.
