Letter: Influence of Government-Run Health Care Systems on Technological Innovation

An important issue that has received little attention is the influence of government-run health care systems on technological innovation.   In most instances, government bureaucrats see new technologies as additional costs and tend to discourage their use.  The result is a tendency to freeze the health care system in the state-of -the-art at the time the program was enacted.

If you believe that we have all the medical technology we will ever need, you are probably OK with that situation.  Do you really believe that all the great medical advances haver already been developed?  In the past, many people believed the same thing!

Think for a moment where we'd be if a national health care system had been created in 1800.  We'd still have barbers practicing primary care, diagnosing people with too much blood and sticking leaches on them!  If that's OK, how about surgery without anesthesia?

Where would we be if a government-run health care system had been created in 1000 AD?  Illness would be viewed as demonic possession and the afflicted person would be burned at the stake!

What will people centuries from now will think of our current medical technology?  What will the consequences of blocking technological innovation be?

Michael F. Becker
Oswego, Ill.

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