Question

What would be the primary advantages of eliminating the role of the federal government in the provision of health care? What would be the primary disadvantages?

Answer 1

There are both advantages and disadvantages of moving the healthcare sector to the private industry, this has been an on going debate of the past decade and no resolution seems to be in sight, there are both positives and negatives of government intervention in the healthcare services sector. The primary advantage of removing the government from healthcare would be as follows:

1. Efficiency: The private sector or private players will be more incentivised to perform better in the industry to get paid better in an essence.
2. Provides another choice to people: Those people who want to and can afford a more expensive or premium choice of healthcare should have the freedom to be able to do so.
3. High amount of pressure on the sector: There is a high amount of pressure on the healthcare sector due to the constantly rising demands of this sector and the current infrastructure might not be able to keep up with it, removing government intervention may give rise to new hospitals or clinics.
4. Separate from all the government associated problems: The problems associated with cost cutting, red tapism and other governmental issues will be avoided.

The disadvantage of getting rid of the government sector is as follows:

1. Risk of inequality: the government insures that every single person gets the same level of attention and treatment, removing the government from this sector will make the private players focus on those who have a large pocket.
2. Lower costs: Not everyone can afford high end healthcare services making it inexpensive and accessible to all is extremely necessary, in terms of economics it increases the productivity of the nation as a whole.
3. Lesser people availing healthcare services: Lesser amount of people might go to the doctors leading to many diseases left unchecked.