In a speech given to the Mayo Clinic in 1978, renowned economist and Nobel laureate Milton Friedman warns about the dangers of government controlled healthcare.
“I’m going to talk about the economics of medical care. This is an area in which as we all know there has been a trend toward ever greater government involvement. The spending for the provision of medical care inevitably leads to control over the fees that are charged for medical care and it should. If government is going to spend money, it should be concerned with what it pays for what it gets. Control over fees inevitably leads to control over the practices that are followed, over the behavior of the medical personnel. And, if this trend continues, it inevitably leads to completely socialized medicine. I believe that this trend including many of the steps that have already been taken is very much against the interest of patients, physicians and other healthcare personnel. In the brief time I have today, I want to explain why I believe the trend is so much against their interests, why it has occurred and what, if anything, can be done about it.”
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