A Universally Good Idea

I'd like to take a brief detour for my typical pattern of posts to discuss something I experienced today, which dovetails quite nicely with the spirited debate in American politics this past summer.

As a bit of background, my health insurance through Cornell University lapsed on August 15th of this year and I went without coverage for five weeks while awaiting my departure for London. That situation continued until I squared away my coverage with a brief and painless errand after lecture this afternoon.

As a full-time student enrolled in a postgraduate course on a student visa, I am eligible for coverage by the National Health Service here in the United Kingdom. I popped in at the on-campus doctor's surgery today, filled out a single double-sided piece of paper that posed questions no more intrusive than "Where do you live?" (in order to assign a conveniently located doctor in my neighborhood) and "How much do you smoke/drink?" (presumably for statistical study), and I was registered. I spent a total of ten minutes in the office and left with a NHS number, which guarantees me medical care here in the United Kingdom. As an aside, the World Health Organization's oft-quoted rankings put the UK at 18th worldwide, well ahead of the United States at 37.

Shortly before I left the US, my sister and I were lucky enough to snag tickets to Barack Obama's town hall meeting on the topic of healthcare held in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Throughout the summer, tremendous amounts of energy were expended on both sides of the political divide while arguing the merits and problems associated with making healthcare both widely-available and affordable. To be honest, I never understood the need for a debate. Every other member of the OECD (a group of 30 highly-developed countries that embrace democratic and free market ideals) offers better and more comprehensive healthcare coverage at a substantially lower cost than we do in the United States. In short, residents of countries like the United Kingdom pay less in healthcare expenses and are healthier for it.

My experience today reinforced everything I've heard and read to date: namely, that universal healthcare arrangements can be managed both competently and efficiently. It should be made clear that, as an economist, I am strongly in favor of free markets, except in cases where they do not work. A free market, where privately-held companies operate in the interest of maximizing the discounted stream of profits, will not arrive at the societal optimum in the case of healthcare.

The American system is broken and today I saw first hand the way to fix it.