Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Obamacare vis-a-vis doctors' finances

Now that the Supreme Court let the Obamacare stand, one burning question that I have is this: what does it all mean for the doctors' bottom line?
Many currently uninsured people will get coverage- I guess, that's a good thing for that bottom line? (it would be in a free economy, since there're millions of consumers of goods/services appear out of a thin air)

The only trouble is that these new consumers will be paying their 'bills" with OPM (others' people money), representing a tax on those who do pay them ( about half of the US population, incl. most doctors). This tax can take different shapes/forms(overt increase in taxation or creating newer taxes/covert taxation by increasing inflation etc), but will have to be paid neveretheless. From my MBA course I know that taxes are beneficial only if they create more wealth that the actual tax extracted from the economy ( does it ever?).
It seems unlikely to me that with all the governmental inefficiencies and outright fraud we're witnessing now within government plans that  it would truly create more wealth for the economy than it would extract from it.( just my half-educated guess).

No comments: