It used to be the case in the U.S. that health decisions were between you and your doctor, but then the federal government stepped in during LBJ’s presidency and from that day on, health policy has mostly been made by wonks.
In this new “Bastiat’s Window” post, Bob Graboyes reflects on that and sees it as a problem. Or maybe the problem. He writes, “The biggest problem with healthcare policy may be that those who design healthcare policy mostly design it for people who design healthcare policy.”
The solutions our “experts” devise are crafted with people like themselves in mind, not the vast number of people who hold regular jobs with little or not time for things like fitness clubs. Exemplifying Hayek’s fatal conceit, such people always think that they can devise a governmental policy to deal with any problem, never considering that individuals will usually work out their own solutions with the assistance of trusted associates and family members.
Graboyes again: “This bias—focusing on what motivates ourselves and our similar acquaintances—permeates healthcare policy with an unintended and sometimes destructive elitism. Psychologists call this the ‘false consensus effect’—assuming everyone else is like us. In rare acts of bipartisanship, we devise well-meaning policies that squander scarce resources on efforts that do relatively little for those who are most likely in need of assistance [emphases mine].”
This is what happens when government gets involved in things where it has no proper role.