Saturday, March 20, 2010

Government Illogic

As immune as I am to government stupidity, every now and then a story surprises me for its lack of even internal logic. Here's one from a NY Times article entitled "With Medicaid Cuts, Doctors and Patients Drop Out", which explains why Michigan's governor is proposing a new tax on doctors:
This year, Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm, a Democrat, has revived a proposal to impose a 3 percent tax on physician revenues. Without the tax, she has warned, the state may have to reduce payments to health care providers by 11 percent.

Thankfully, and not surprisingly, doctors are smarter than the Michigan politicians and their electorate:
New doctors, with their mountains of medical school debt, are fleeing the state because of payment cuts and proposed taxes. Dr. Kiet A. Doan, a surgeon in Flint, said that of 72 residents he had trained at local hospitals only two had stayed in the area, and both are natives.

2 Comments:

Blogger Galileo Blogs said...

It's the same sort of illogic that we see in those incessant ads touting Michigan as a favorable place to do business because of all those subsidies that Michigan's government will provide you... paid by taxes on business.

8:22 AM  
Blogger Amit Ghate said...

I haven't seen those ads, but you're right they would be an even more egregious example.

These types of overt contradictions make me wonder more about the electorate than about politicians. It really shows that our efforts have to be geared towards basic education not political activism (though that's also important for giving us more type to educate).

8:36 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home