Health care’s mountain of paperwork
The Economist has an interesting brief article on why government use of the web has been ineffective while in the private sector, the web has been a primary driving force in the economy. This got me thinking about what would happen if we really did have universal healthcare.
The economist points out that because there is no competition in government - you get only one per country - there’s no competition or drive to make things efficient. "Failure in bureaucracy means not bankruptcy but writing self-justifying memos, and at worst a transfer elsewhere. Bureaucrats plead that just a bit more time and money will fix the clunky monsters they have created."
Further, implementing efficient online services often require a different personality than is often found in bureaucracies: "The examples of good e-government in our special report have a common factor: a tough-minded leader at the top, willing to push change through against the protests of corrupt or incompetent vested interests."
So what happens if we have universal health care? The health care & insurance industry is already horribly laden with paperwork and bureaucracy. It’s ripe for online & electronic efficiencies. But, if you eliminate the already slim competition, and encourage more bureaucratic personalities to have power, will it just get worse? Will medical costs (which everyone would bear) actually go up because of system & information inefficiencies?
