Good post - lots to think about.

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The private sector can and will step-in if there's money to be made. If a company isn't making money, one first has to ask the question why not. As I said in my previous post uf the company is doing everything they can and still not making ends meet in a particular area, then the government, either local, state, and lastly federal should incent these companies to remain through whatever means it has at it's disposal. Government assistance should be the exception, not the rule.


This doesn't sound realistic to me ... the only reason healthcare is profitable in America is because not everyone has access; and high-risk, heavy users are routinely dropped or excluded from coverage by those who need to generate profit for shareholders. I am however open to the possibility you suggest ... do you have an example of any program that features universal access and generates a profit for private enterprise?

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Just think of how great our primary and secondary school system would be, particularly in cities which now tend to fair the worst, if you had a choice of where you sent your child to school. How good your teachers would be if they were paid more, were better educated, and if the school didn't meet your standards you took your kids (and your money) and went elsewhere with it. Schools would have a vested interest in the teachers they hired, teachers would have a vested interest in the school they worked for. Without fail, competition yields higher levels of service at lower costs.



I have a bias here, my two kids go to private school and I agree that the standards are higher and they are also probably more efficient. I do however continue to pay school taxes.

But what makes the higher standards of a private school possible, is the existence of a universal access public school system - because private schools are relieved of the burden to meet societies obligation of universal access. If parents / students were able to decide for themselves where they went to school it would be chaos.

It is only because of the existence of the public schools that the private schools can operate differently ... they select who and how many students attend and the criteria on which those decisions are made - arbitrarily and without general oversight; they decide the curriculum and their location, and most importantly, they decide what their operating budgets are. Need/want a higher budget - charge more - no referendums, no accountability to elected officials, no need to worry about the impact of the next municipal election, no need to raise taxes.

How exactly do you educate millions of kids from destitute families within this system?

And how do you provide healthcare to millions of kids from destitute families with a comparable healtcare system?




Last edited by Mysti-ken; 10/18/04 07:35 PM.