Ben Shapiro takes Republican lawmakers to task in a National Review Online column for misusing the words “free” and “market.”
For most of my adult life, the Republican party has proclaimed to its supporters that it stands for free markets. Then, when the legislative process begins, the Republican party abandons its supposed free-market principles in favor of Democrat-lite policy. To bridge the gap, Republicans simply pretend that the latter is the former — they pretend that the government measures they embrace are actually free-market measures. …
… Now, it should be noted that state-created and state-sponsored risk pools are not “free-market measures.” If they were, then so were Obamacare exchanges. People are capable of collectively bargaining over health care — employers do it with insurance companies every day, and cooperative health arrangements such as religious health-care co-ops do the same. But state-run programs in which the state bargains in behalf of consumers using taxpayer subsidies are not free markets. They are subsidies to insurance companies. …
… Republicans are afraid of actually standing for conservative principle when it comes to policy. Here is the conservative policy take on health insurance: A free market guarantees the highest-quality, lowest-price service in any market. Skewing that market with government-backed incentive schemes reduces efficiency, destroys competition, and undercuts quality. If we all truly want better health care, the only way to provide it is through measures that incentivize a higher supply of health care, not a rationing of the available care through redistributionist schemes. That means the first priority for Republicans should be removing damaging regulations on preexisting conditions and essential health benefits.
