According to the Wisconsin Council on Medical Education and Workforce, Wisconsin is facing a deepening medical care shortage. Waiting lists are lengthening, and the number of physicians is not growing as fast as people would like or just not growing at all in certain counties like Milwaukee.
There is no doubt that not just Wisconsin but the entire U.S. faces a health care crisis. What can fix it?
For brevity's sake let's agree that we need a universal health care system. At this point, I'm sure all of us are exhausted of hearing about health care, so instead I'm going to talk about food.
If anything is essential to our health, it's food. Without food, we cannot survive. That being the case, I propose that the government begin work on a universal food care system. Sure there are some food stamp programs, but all of us need food to live. If the right to life, as well as health care is a universal right, then surely all of us have a right to affordable food.
Let us now move the story to Woodman's, or whatever your local grocery store may be. But for this particular trip, don't worry about your budget so much. Remember, we have universal food care. Some of what we buy will be covered by the government. Instead of choosing the more affordable hamburger, let's pick up some finely cut filets. Remember: I'm not paying for it and neither are you!
After a while I begin to notice that Woodman's is crowded, more so than usual. Now that I have my meat, it is time to go find my usual snacks. My first intention is to start cleaning off the racks, because I love my junk food, but... hmm... it seems like they are out of a lot of my favorite brands. Still, I manage to find the snacks I wanted, so I head over to the checkout line ... but wait, that line is all the way back to the dairy corner of the store! And why is my bill so high?
For the sake of comparison, let us make food similar to a real life profession. Like doctors, food now is in limited quantities. So now instead of having a fresh stock of food every day on the shelves, one has to wait. What happens when you have a sudden increase in consumption of a good that is very fixed in the short run? Shortages and lines result. Also, what happens when there is a shock to the demand for food? The price goes up. However, if the government keeps paying, does it really matter? Not really. If the population is okay with the government spending trillions of dollars (it seems to me those who want universal food care and fiscal responsibility need to get their ideas straight).
Now think about those people who truly have special diets, and need specific foods in order to get better. For example, imagine your fellow dorm resident needs oranges to survive, but Woodman's is out of stock. Now that oranges are free, I'll consume more, even though I didn't want them in the first place. How many of us would normally say no to something if it was expensive, but if it was given to us for free, would gladly take it?
The solution is we need more food, not free food. And the only way we can get more food is if we ease the regulations which keep food from being provided to us. Apparently most of us are fine with someone taking 12 years of college to become a food producer, yet is that not also greatly limiting the supply of food? More food producers competing for your business by its very nature will drive down the cost of food, and make it more affordable. We need to increase the supply of health care... or food, in this case... not make it free.
Mike Clutterbuck is a sophomore majoring in economics. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
