On Tuesday, the Alligator published an article by Bryan Griffin who argued for a larger role for non-profits in the American health care system. This article was not only full of blatant contradictions but naive in the extreme. Mr. Griffin was arguing that the health care system would perform better in private hands, he just forgot that non-profits are heavily dependent upon the government and are not private enterprise. In his attempt to discredit the new health care laws he actually made an argument for an increased government role.
When looking at the new health care law many people are upset that it requires all people to buy health care. On the other hand, people like the fact that the law bans insurance companies from refusing coverage to the sick and needy. These two issues are inseparable. To make it economically viable for insurance companies to cover high-risk individuals, the pool of health individuals who buy insurance but have little need of it also needs to increase. You cannot have one without the other.
The new health care law is also a boon to private business. The United States has the misguided notion that private businesses should provide health care to their employees. This system might work if every country operated this way, but they don't. Health care costs are not insignificant and removing this burden from business should make them more competitive in the international system.
The major problem with Mr. Griffin's article was that he advocated for an increased role of non-profits in American health care. There is definitely a place for non-profits in America as he demonstrated the United Way's program of providing dental care to needy school children. This is a great program that is an excellent investment because it heads off many dental problems before they become crises. Helping these "free-riders" as he calls them actually makes economic sense.
The problem with non-profits though is they are notoriously inefficient and corrupt. They do many good things but are very limited. One only needs look at foreign non-profits to see how corrupt they are. Why do people think that American non-profits are any better? How many people would trade government provided health care for ACORN provided health care? Is Mr. Griffin seriously advocating for increased funding for ACORN, the same non-profit that was recently busted for helping pimps apply for federal loans. What about the role of religious non-profits?
There are definitely ways to make the new health care law better but significantly increasing the role of non-profits is not one of them. If such a system was actually adopted, it would simply result in higher costs for a decreased level of care. Mr. Griffin's position is simply a half developed idea that is naive in the extreme.
Nick Miner, Masters Student in Communication
