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August 10, 2007
Kling's Iron Trilemma
Following on this post from ealier this week in regard to American's currently failed system of health care finance, Arnold Kling follows with another one:
. . . Kling's Iron Trilemma. We want:--what I call insulation, where consumers enjoy the peace of mind of having their medical services paid for by a third party;
--unrestricted access, where consumers and doctors can choose medical procedures without bureaucratic interference or government budget limits;
--less stress over rising health care costs.
The trilemma is that we can have at most two out of three. Much of the "reality-based community" (an Orwellian label if there ever was one) denies that the trilemma exists. [Jonathon] Gruber [the M.I.T. economist who helped design the universal health insurance plan in Massachusetts] does not deny its existence, but he prefers restricting access to reducing insulation. I prefer the latter.
Posted by Tom at August 10, 2007 12:05 AM |
Comments
He doesn't need three legs, two will suffice:
(1) We get cured of what ails us (as we define both 'cured' and 'what ails us').
(2) Someone else pays.
Posted by: steve sturm 
at August 12, 2007 11:44 AM
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