My friend, Dr. Jeffrey Singer, has written this brilliant article, one that originally appeared in “Reason Magazine.” His perspective on the history of the slippery slope that ushered the healthcare industry to the cartelized mess it now represents is as insightful as any account you will find.
I am proud to be collaborating with Dr. Singer and Dr. John Ammon in an educational effort early next year, one that will bring students at Arizona State University the truth of how healthcare got where it is and what now to do about it. Dr. Singer is, I believe, a rare combination of talents. He is first a surgeon. His uncompromising free market principles are punctuated with an encyclopedic grasp of key facts and figures that leave his adversaries in any debate little room to crawl. Dr. Thomas Sowell once remarked to his opponent in a debate, “…while you are entitled to your own opinions, you are not, sir, entitled to your own facts. Facts are facts.” Dr. Singer appears to know a great deal of them and can recall them at will, much to the chagrin of the socialized medicine crowd. In addition, he is as articulate as anyone you will meet, a talent that renders him an even more powerful proponent for free market ideas. I like him, too, because he uses the word “cartel” as much or more (!) than I do to describe the healthcare system in this country.
Dr. Singer is therefore my next installment in the Free Market Medical Warriors series. This article supports his inclusion into this group, one that I will be expanding greatly in the next few months.
Links to the other Warriors, so dubbed, are here, here and here.
G. Keith Smith, M.D.