It’s Time to Socialize Plumbers and Tow Trucks

Alan makes an interesting argument in favor of socializing 1/6 of the U.S. economy. He tells us a story how after he accidentally chopped of a small part of his finger and bandaged it himself and then made the mistake of trying to change the bandage at work, he drove out to a “doc in box” which then charged him $245. Moral of the story: time to socialize medicine because none of us are in a position to negotiate:

Was I in a position to bargain as they stopped the blood flow? Not really. Did I have any idea they’d charge me $1,000 an hour to emplace a bandage? Of course not. Will they negotiate something reasonable now? Of course not. Would any of you have stopped them before you got in the door and said, how much will this cost? Had I asked the nurse, would she even have known? Doubtful.

The insurance company won’t help me. That’s not what they do, negotiate for patients.

I had no knowledge and no bargaining power. That’s not the free market at work. It’s health care, and it’s why insisting in free market solutions for health care is just stupid.

Well, Alan has made a very good case for socializing tow trucks.

And plumbers.

And locksmiths.

And repairmen.

I’ve never once in my life planned on breaking down by the side of the road, needing to call a plumber or an electrician, or having a repairman come out. I suppose it’s technically possible on the side of the road to open up an I-phone, search google yellow pages and call every tow truck company to find a quote, but who does that, particularly if you’re a strange town. However, if the government controlled all the tow trucks that would solve everything.

Or how about government control of plumbers, electricians, and repairmen? The only way you can find out how their services cost is usually to get an estimate which means a service call. When they give their estimate, and you have to decide whether to roll the dice and hope the next plumber/electrician/repairman to come out to the house will charge you less even with you paying for an additional service call, you know how the crook felt in the Dirty Harry movies when Dirty Harry asked, “Do you feel lucky?”

Of course, in Alan’s example, there were all kinds of examples of better choices he could have made. He cut off the bit of his finger and took care of it at home. He could have driven out to a St. Alphonsus Express Care if in doubt as to how to take care of it (they only charge $55). He then made the fateful decision to change the bandage which led to the service call at an expensive out of network service provider.

I do sympathize with Alan’s pain. I’ve done stupid things, too. We all have. I’ve had towing bills result from stupid things I’ve done. I’ve had repairman visits result from making mistakes in the kitchen. I panicked last year and had a $175 Emergency Room bill to tell me to go and take ibuprofen.  Yet, I’ve never come to this blog to declare that it was all the fault of the service provider and the government for not having socialized them.

This doesn’t mean the free enterprise system is perfect. However, by the grace of God and through the opportunity afforded in this country, I’ve seen my income increase more than 250% over the past seven years. I’m hardly rich, but I’ve been able to afford to take steps such as addressing my weight problem and sleep apnea that could prevent far more costly problems down the line.

I don’t think that’s a bad deal. What we need is more innovators and more companies finding better solutions to health care. However, government is often in the way of innovation, rather than on its side. Government ultimately ends up ingraining inefficiency rather than correcting it. The last thing we need is a health care system with the compassion of the DMV, the efficiency of the Pentagon, and the common sense of Congress.