Government intrusion is not the American way
Published in The Tennessean , Sunday, November 29, 2009 Government intrusion is not the American way by Richard J. Grant When talking to Canadians about the drawbacks of their universal healthcare system, I often heard the retort, "But I sure don’t want an American-style system!" My honest response was, “Don't worry, Americans don’t have one either.” “American-style” used to connote “free and prosperous.” Respect for economic freedom has always been associated with the American way of doing things. Now, although this association persists in our minds, it does not persist in the reality around us. Government is already the largest medical "insurer" in the country, and pays at least half of all US medical expenditures. It is also the most wasteful. The Medicare program is an actuarial disaster that, within five years, will begin running deficits that will increase rapidly over time, leaving it no way to cover its trillions of dollars of unfunded liabilities. Attem...