Some people say,”why are you so negative on your blog site?”
“Why don’t you talk about happy stuff?”
”Isn’t there anything good to talk about?”
Actually there is….and I have. All that is good in medicine is that enveloped by free individuals acting on their own without coercion, either within the framework of a free market or as chartible actors. If you have been following this blog you know by now that I clearly distinguish mutually beneficial exchange between free individuals from that of dealing with the muggers and thugs that hold us at gunpoint. I have tried to clearly distinguish between acts of charity and acts of theft, the latter characterizing government action at every level. I have tried to distinguish between the physicians who have taken their oaths seriously and continue to act in the best interests of their patients from those who are acting on other orders, be it that of their employer or that of the feds.
If I seem to focus on the negative, though, it is because most physicians that I know are outraged by the injustice of the corporatist and government approach to health care which leaves the patient holding the bag. Most physicians I know also would agree that most people we encounter are not aware of how we got to where we are. Trash continues to pour out of Harvard University on “cost calculation” and “comparative effectiveness research.” I feel like the best use of a megaphone (this blog) is to warn people about things that could cost them their lives. Subsequent to that are the finer points of the free market and why we must focus on individual freedom and why that is important. Imagine that you are a life guard at the beach. The water is full of swimmers. The water is full of sharks. You have a megaphone. It would not be appropriate to focus your shouts mostly on what a beautiful day it is.
It is also difficult to talk about the positive side of health care without sounding too much like I am bragging on our surgery center. There is a fine line between informing people and sounding too self-promoting. There are incredible and wonderful things happening at The Surgery Center of Oklahoma but it is because of our unfailing devotion to the free market principles on which our organization was founded and to which we are committed. Our wish is that every physician and facility will embrace the same principles. Our wish is that everyone would embrace price transparency. I believe that lack of this approach will result in the bankruptcy and destruction of those facilities and physicians who wish to cling to the current model of the cartelization of care…the corporatization of medicine.
My point is that while I am more optimistic than ever that market forces will prevail and that the wonders of modern medicine will be available at affordable prices in the near future, I firmly believe that those who stand to lose when this happens will act like cornered and injured animals, viciously attacking those threatening their scheme.
G. Keith Smith, M.D.
