In 1999, politicians pushed for a “Patients’ Bill of Rights,” supposedly to give patients certain privileges in dealing with HMOs. No one was pushing for a “Bill of Rights” to protect patients against doctors-or against druggists, appliance stores, computer makers, or gardeners. So how did HMOs become so powerful and dictatorial that their customers need protection?
In 1973 Congress passed the HMO Act-which subsidized HMOs and forced any company providing employee health insurance to offer an HMO as an option. This requirement was finally repealed in 1995, but by that time the government’s favored treatment had made HMOs the centerpiece of employer-sponsored health programs.
Once again, the politicians are seizing the opportunity to rescue us from their own handiwork. Source: The Great Libertarian Offer, p.197 , Sep 9, 2000
Q: Would Browne, if elected President, sign into law or veto a bill which establishes a “right to die” (assisted suicide)?
A: Browne would veto, on federal-state grounds. The 9th & 10th Amendments prohibit the federal government from taking on a lot of functions. A Browne presidency would include a lot of vetoes, in support of those Amendments. Source: Phone interview with Jim Babka, Browne’s Press Secretary , Aug 9, 2000
Q: : How much involvement should the government have in funding things like AIDS research?
A: I don’t believe it should have any. All of the really great advances that have taken place in science and medicine have taken place outside the government, with maybe the exception of the Manhattan Project. The first polio vaccine was developed privately, and the government vaccine came a few years later. And the money that goes through the government for research becomes political. And I can only imagine that if you didn’t have government soaking up so much research money, if you didn’t have people pressuring companies, if you didn’t have these amazing litigation liabilities, a cure for AIDS might have been found five or ten years ago. We need to get the government out of these things, because there is a tremendous demand for these cures — not just for AIDS, but for cancer, heart disease, etc. Government cannot speed up the process. It can only slow it down. Source: PlanetOut interview (planetout.com) , Jul 7, 2000