In 2004, the latest year for which worldwide data are available, the United States had a higher rate [of infant mortality] than 28 countries, including Singapore, Japan, Cuba and Hungary. In 1960, the United States had a higher rate than only 11 countries.
That is down from 23rd in 1990. When our rate of infant mortality is losing ground ot other countries, there is no question the system is deteriorating. At best, it is not keeping pace with its peers. So much for delivery. This undercuts one of McKalip's main points.
Contrary to McKalip's unsubstantiated claim, the American health care system is not the best in the world. However, we do lead in one area. We are the most expensive system on the planet.  That brings us to McKalip's cost argument. Without any evidence, he makes another fatuous claim that less than 5 percent of people declare bankruptcy for medical reasons. Again, the ole bait-and-switch. No one declares bankruptcy for medical reasons. However, several studies have shown that medical costs are the largest driver of personal bankruptcies.
This is an area that Obama explicitly addressed in great detail during his press conference. As a report by the Commonwealth Fund noted,
  The administrative costs of the medical insurance system consume much more of the current health care dollar, about 7.5 percent, than in other countries.Bringing those administrative costs down to the level of 5 percent or so as in Germany and Switzerland, where private insurers play a significant role, would save an estimated $50 billion a year in the United States.
That is precisely why the Obama administration is focused on creating a competitive environment in the health care insurance industry. However, if you listen to McKalip's Youtube clip he misleadingly paints the efforts of the Obama administration as a "single-payer" system. Again he uses that to raise the threat of rationing. This is a favorite theme of his in all his writings. Like any good Ayn Rand acolyte, McKalip argues for the individual solution, promising the following miraculous benefits:
Instead of expanding control of third party payers -- the same parties responsible for our current mess -- we can put the control of health care financing right where it belongs: into your hands. Right now, you can buy a low cost health insurance package and fund your own private health savings account with tax free money. You can use that account to bargain for lower prices from hospitals and demand that your doctor spend more time with you and explain how you can be managed without every test and treatment they can provide.
Who knew going Galt comes with added benefits? All you have to do to get these benefits is fund your own private health savings plan. You will do more than save money. You will also get to serve as your own advocate, operate as your own attorney and doctors will magically change their standards of practice to meet your demands. Â
When you write for Lew Rockwell, you can make false claims without fear of contradiction. However, that is not the case when you publish the same nonsense in a daily paper like the St. Petterburg Times. Here are a particularly biting response to Mckalip's column:
Having represented injured and ill persons in my law practice for more than 37 years, I have to wonder how Dr. David McKalip has managed to miss the "rationing" of medical care which has been with us my entire life.For starters, people without insurance certainly know only a weak dribble of care gets through the supply hose to them. This is because our society has elected to ration America's limited medical care primarily to those who have insurance or enough money.
Then there are those who have been injured on the job and frequently have to beg to get what they require unless they have an attorney serving as a battering ram.
Even the insured patient faces the back-office preauthorization team at the health insurance company and the forbidden drug list. Some procedures and drugs, judged to be necessary by many doctors and patients, aren't available because they cost too much.
We are delusional if we feel "rationing" has not been with us for many years. The present system is simply the capitalistic method of rationing that assures the best care for the well-heeled among us. Referring to this system as "the sacred patient-physician relationship" may allow our medical providers to feel good about themselves, but it is, unfortunately, a snow job.
-- Robert J. Carroll, Palm Harbor, FL
At this point, the only question I have for David McKalip is this:  Why don't you put your money where your mouth is? When are you going to really go Galt ... and disappear?
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