Charity vs. government health care

Gilbert Berdine MD

ABSTRACT

Part 3 of this series on sustainable health care discusses charity as a market phenomenon. Charity is explained as a result of the Law of Marginal Utility and the limitation of scare resources. Charity is contrasted with government health care or public health care. Charity and government health care are driven by different incentives. Charities compete for limited donations leading to improved relief of suffering at lower cost over time. Government health care acts like all monopolies and delivers a declining quality of output at ever increasing cost.

Keywords: charity, free market, marginal utility, health care economics

Article citation: Berdine G. Charity vs. government health care. The Southwest Respiratory and Critical Care Chronicles 2018;6(26):1–7
From: Department of Internal Medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, Texas
Submitted: 8/10/2018
Accepted: 9/16/2018
Reviewer: Cheryl Erwin, JD, PhD
Conflicts of interest: none
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