Medicare Payment Rules: Looking Behind the Curtain

Robert Moffit / August 06, 2009

As public relations campaigns on health care legislation are ramped up over the next few weeks, Americans will do well to remember the storybook classic, The Wizard of Oz. The power of the Wizard was based on mystery, fear, and intimidation. Only after the intrepid travelers pulled back the curtain did they realize the Wizard was a mere mortal turning the cranks of a great smoke-belching machine. They were no longer afraid.

Congressional advocates of a single-payer system would like Americans to believe that a government Wizard will be superior to our current decentralized network of health care. The logic behind single-payer is that health care is too complicated for individuals to make their own choices and decisions. Decisions should be left to the Wizard. (more…)