Tag: david goldhill

David Goldhill: “A Democrat’s Case For ‘No’ ”

By
Michael F. Cannon

David Goldhill has done it again.

You may recall his article, “How American Health Care Killed My Father,” from the September 2009 issue of The Atlantic.

Now, at HuffingtonPost, he comments on the health care legislation that may soon face a final vote (of some sort) in the House:

[C]ontinuing our Party’s almost unquestioned conflation of health insurance with health care, the central feature of the proposed “reform” is further extension of our flawed insurance-based system…[D]espite the Administration’s recent heated rhetoric, most of the entrenched health industry interests are quietly or openly in favor of this bill. Should the bill become law, I suspect we will look back at it as an industry bailout…

How…can Democrats in the depths of a recession support a massive tax increase on middle-class job creation…? How…could we justify diverting even more of middle class income to support our broken system of care, further starving families of funds for all their other needs? Most uninsured Americans lack insurance only temporarily; how many of them would trade lesser lifetime job prospects and lower disposable income for the short-term retention of health insurance?…

If the legislation had any real prospect of controlling health care spending, would the pharmaceutical industry be funding the “yes” campaign?

As a former Democrat who hung door knockers for Michael Dukakis in 1988, I know the heavy heart with which he writes.  Read the whole thing.

Watch the video to hear Goldhill’s story:

Topics: 
General, Health Care

The Myth of ‘Market Failure’ in Health Care

One argument in favor of a government overhaul of the health care system is that the free market had its chance, and failed when it comes to providing the best possible care.  But as David Goldhill discovered while researching for the September cover article in The Atlantic, the United States has anything but a free-market health care system.

He explains his findings below:

For real market-based reform, see Cato’s new Policy Analysis, “Yes, Mr. President: A Free Market Can Fix Health Care.”

Topics: 
Health Care

Why Does Health Care Need Reform?

By
Michael F. Cannon

Is it because health care is special?  Or is it because we have treated health care as though it were special?

David Goldhill is the CEO of the Game Show Network and author of “How American Health Care Killed My Father,” in the September 2009 issue of The Atlantic.

In this Cato video, Goldhill explains why a consumer-driven health care sector would never produce the often horrific problems we see in American medicine, and why the legislation moving through Congress fails to address those problems.

See Goldhill’s complete remarks here.

Topics: 
Health Care

“How American Health Care Killed My Father”

By
Michael F. Cannon

Not my father.  David Goldhill’s father.

David Goldhill is a Democrat.  He is the president and CEO of the Game Show Network.  And he’ll be speaking on health care at a Cato Institute event on Capitol Hill this Thursday.

Why would you want to hear the president of the Game Show Network discuss about health care reform?

Because after Goldhill’s father succumbed to a hospital-acquired infection, Goldhill spent two years studying America’s health care sector.  The product of those efforts is “How American Health Care Killed My Father,” an article in this month’s issue of The Atlantic that bloggers have acclaimed as a “stemwinder” and “a fascinating read.”

Goldhill analyzes why America’s health care sector is so dysfunctional and concludes that “this generation of ‘comprehensive’ reform will not address the underlying issues, any more than previous efforts did. Instead it will put yet more patches on the walls of an edifice that is fundamentally unsound—and then build that edifice higher.”

The event will take place in room B-340 of the Rayburn House Office Building at noon on Thursday, October 1.  Click here to register.

Topics: 
Health Care