Apparently some old guys in black dresses who can’t even get a decent picture taken of themselves (doing business as “The Supreme Court”) have shocked the liberty community by approving yet another (in a long line) of big government tax and spend mandates.
I was blissfully unaware of this until a friend mentioned it. You should be too. Stop watching mainstream media news. Just go cold turkey for 6 months. What they say doesn’t matter anyway. We already know that there is a fascist onslaught against our lives and liberty. We already know that it’s gaining steam. Why torture yourself listening to all the inane airheads sing its praises?
It’s not rational to hurt yourself like that.
Instead, let’s focus on what we already knew we should be focusing on anyway – the construction of new liberty-compatible societies that will render the current fascist ones obsolete.
No, don’t sign off and get drunk. You don’t have the luxury of being depressed. There is a great big future out there and it’s time you join the battle for it. I’m not talking about signing a petition or chanting a revolutionary slogan.
Here’s an idea. (Thanks to fellow (r)evolutionary Mariana Evica for the inspiration.) We know that ObamaCare is going to crash the healthcare system even beyond the unworkable morass it is today. So let’s build a dual power alternative. I’m talking about something that can
- patch the gaping holes in the current system;
- help those most vulnerable to this fascist power grab;
- serve as killer public relations for libertarians, anarchists and other (r)evolutionaries;
- grow the power base for libertarian solutions;
- be an example of agorist counter-economic decentralized entepreneurialism; and
- grow the wealth profiles of our allies and ourselves.
I’d like to see some healthcare professionals set up a model mobile, pirate clinic. Qualified individuals of all skill levels can provide medical services on demand to those who need it. Pricing is determined Ron-Paul-style by what the patient can pay. Sponsorship is accepted from local counter-economic enterprises to subsidize patients. Doctors donate their time or take a reduced fee in return for prestige and that warm, fuzzy feeling.
Once a solid model has been identified, and is working, the founders offer free franchises to anyone anywhere. Free training is given online using live-streaming, Skype, chat, file sharing, etc. Microloans are available to those in need of startup capital. The loans are disbursed and repaid via Bitcoin.
Taking inspiration from the feed-the-world anarchist collective example of franchise activism Food not Bombs, we can call this Bandages not Bullets.
Who’s starting the first one?
P.S. Even if you think this is unworkable, let’s be constructive and identify the obstacles.
P.P.S. Don’t assume that I am a heartless social-Darwinian psychopath who enjoys the idea of people suffering due to substandard or insufficient healthcare services.
I love the idea of health care services being available universally at the highest level of quality. I just don’t agree that the best way of achieving that is a state-corporate conspiracy to threaten people into corporate cost-cut factory settings where the last thing you get is decent care. I prefer voluntary and non-exploitive means of achieving this admirable goal.
9 replies on “The Supreme Court and ObamaCare are Irrelevant”
Great article George. The main problems I foresee, with the “mobile, pirate clinic” you suggested would be 1. Making sure it was staffed well enough. and 2. Make sure all of the healthcare providers are skilled enough/trained enough.
I don’t see that as a problem. It’s a sliding scale and service can degrade gracefully based on what risks individuals are willing to take and what the market demand is.
Previously, someone could have chosen to be uninsured and then used an agorist doctor.
Now, people have to buy into the State system and then pay again for an agorist doctor. That makes it less valuable.
However, it is cheaper to just pay the “uninsured tax” than buy a policy.
The informal economy is sizable and growing. Lots of people already use underground medicine, especially in the immigrant communities. Lots of people covered to their ears with state and/or private insurance already travel to the third world in order to achieve the care they want for a reasonable place. Where I live the state hasn’t yet completely screwed things up and it is a medical tourism destination, even for people from the UK.
Ah that is true, however there arises the problems of 1. How to provide healthcare in a counter-economic manner that isn’t simply alternative medicine but more in line with modern healthcare, only perhaps using herbal medicines instead of prescriptions, and 2. Medical research that goes beyond finding “The next new med that’s the old med with only a few modifications” and actually works on understanding the body better, and providing actual treatments for the miscellaneous ailments. Plus there always arises the problems of running tests to determine what the illness actually is. exempli grati if your agorist doctor want to give you an MRI or PET scan, how the heck does he do so? Of course, there is also the problem of performing research which requires specialized equipment without getting a job at a university or corporation. Of course I’m sure there is some counter-economic solution to all of these problems, and I myself would like to solve them, however it IS a PITA to actually find the solutions, and implement them.
I’ve been mulling my idea over for a while now and I think it would actually bridge the gap, at least somewhat, between ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’.
It would start by identifying someone, a neighborhood kid for instance, who would like to become a nurse or other type of provider. People from the neighborhood would then contract with this person to ‘sponsor’ their medical education in trade for providing the level of service that they become qualified to perform.
This paradigm already exists, but this would be completely private among the student and sponsors. One of the sponsors could provide the office space needed. There would be no insurance necessary and the cost of service to sponsors might be nothing more than replacement of materials used. Other locals could also receive treatment but would need to kick in more than just cost, in an open-ended manner to account for ability to pay.
This would help a young person get started on their livelihood while providing a needed service at a very reasonable cost.
Lots more little details floating around in my head, but I think this gets the gist across.
Thank you George for putting this out there!
Great idea, thanks for sharing it!
Get rid of the insurance companies. They provide no value and suck money out of the system. Health care should be a right as it is in every other modern, and some less modern, coutnires in the world.
Actually, insurance companies, speaking generally, do serve a purpose. They mitigate risks and lower costs. But the government has them in a bind.