{"id":41278,"date":"2017-07-21T06:03:36","date_gmt":"2017-07-21T10:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=41278"},"modified":"2017-07-24T07:59:02","modified_gmt":"2017-07-24T11:59:02","slug":"privatizing-healthcare-like-privatizing-police-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2017\/07\/privatizing-healthcare-like-privatizing-police-protection.html","title":{"rendered":"Privatizing Healthcare is like Privatizing Police Protection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Randal<\/p>\n

I thought that this quote from Randal Rauser<\/a> deserved to be turned into a meme. He writes:<\/p>\n

Imagine a world in which all citizens were not extended protection by the police. Instead, the government aimed to offer people various tax credits and incentives to buy police protection from private security firms. And as a result, some people were protected by powerful armed militias, others had spotty protection from ill-equipped security guards, and still others were left to fend for themselves as in\u00a0The Purge.<\/em><\/p>\n

Crazy, right?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how the Republican free market approach to healthcare looks to a Canadian like me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have the advantage of having lived outside of the United States for many years, and so having a bit more critical distance from my own American context than someone who has never lived abroad. But I wonder whether\u00a0most Americans can nonetheless appreciate the analogy Rauser makes. While one often hears heated invective from Republicans about\u00a0the evils of socialism and the positive aspects of the free market, few would want to see everyone having to purchase for themselves the best protection against fires or crime that they can privately afford. For that matter, we don\u2019t think that everyone should have to sort out their own access to water, sewage, and trash removal. The attempt to approach healthcare (and\u00a0to some extent education) in that way reflects an inconsistency that deserves to be noticed and challenged, and I appreciated the way Rauser<\/a> did that.<\/p>\n

I already had this post written when a Facebook friend wrote the following yesterday, making a related point:<\/p>\n

If you call the fire department when your house catches fire you don\u2019t get a bill after they extinguish it. When the police show up to arrest a home burglar they don\u2019t leave you with an invoice. So why do you have to pay when you go to the emergency room? Why does it cost thousands of dollars for a hospital stay?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I was sorry that the SyFy<\/a> TV series Incorporated<\/a><\/em> was cancelled after its first season. It offered a compelling vision of a future in which government has failed and corporations have stepped in to provide services for those who can afford them \u2013 and keep those who cannot at bay beyond the walls of the green zone. In one episode<\/a>, a fire cannot be put out because the owner of the store is behind on paying his bills to the local service provider. The one season that was made is worth watching \u2013 you can stream it from Amazon<\/a>, or get it on DVD<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I thought that this quote from Randal Rauser deserved to be turned into a meme. He writes: Imagine a world in which all citizens were not extended protection by the police. Instead, the government aimed to offer people various tax credits and incentives to buy police protection from private security firms. 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