Protectionists Dominate Health Care Debate

Anyone seriously interested in controlling health care costs would be actively discussing alternatives to patent protection for financing the development of prescription drugs and medical equipment. Everyone who has taken even an intro economics class knows that there will be horrible waste and corruption when goods can sell for hundreds of times their competitive market price, as can be the case with prescription drugs and medical equipment. Those interested in controlling costs would also be actively seeking to promote international trade in medical services since the health care systems in other countries are so much more efficient than the U.S. system.

Neither of these items even gets mentioned in David Leonhardt's discussion of the prospects for controlling health care costs. This is indicative of the incredible corruption of the public debate on health care reform.

--Dean Baker

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