Government Promised Healthcare for All. It Gave Us Waiting Lines

By Vance Ginn. Excerpt:

"The average family with employer-sponsored insurance now pays nearly $25,000 a year in premiums. Those dollars are siphoned out of paychecks before workers ever see them, enriching bureaucracies instead of delivering care. Meanwhile, US healthcare spending hit $4.9 trillion in 2023, almost 18 percent of GDP.

Where does all this money go? Too much is consumed by what we call BURRDEN: Bureaucratic, Unaccountable, Rigid, Regulated, Distorted, Expensive, and Needless costs. 

My co-authored research with Dr. Deane Waldman shows that these hidden costs could account for as much as 50 percent of total healthcare spending — up to $2.5 trillion every year wasted on forms, delays, compliance, and red tape, instead of healing.

Death by Queue

The most tragic result of BURRDEN is not financial waste but human loss. Medicaid now covers more than 80 million Americans, yet “coverage” does not equal access. Because government reimbursement rates are so low, fewer US physicians accept new Medicaid patients. Those who do are often overwhelmed, leading to months-long waits for appointments.

This is what we call death by queue. A Medicaid card promises care, but in practice, it too often means waiting in line while conditions worsen. Medicaid patients are more likely to experience poor outcomes, not because doctors treat them differently once in the operating room, but because they can’t get timely access to care in the first place. In economics, this is a shortage: demand outstrips supply because the government suppresses prices.

More funding won’t fix this. As long as bureaucrats cap reimbursement rates, providers will be forced to limit access to stay in business, and patients will continue to die waiting.

A Workforce Out of Balance

The structure of the healthcare workforce highlights the imbalance. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, medical and health services managers — administrators — are projected to grow 23 percent over the next decade, while physicians will grow just three percent. America is producing far more paper-pushers than doctors.

This explosion of administration mirrors the money trail. A landmark study found administrative costs account for 34 percent of US health spending. Add regulatory compliance, licensing barriers, and insurance bureaucracy, and BURRDEN consumes nearly half of every healthcare dollar.

Why More Government Fails

Washington’s instinct is to impose more rules and more price controls. The Inflation Reduction Act and the May 2025 Most Favored Nation Executive Order tied US drug prices to European systems that ration care and free-ride on American innovation.

But price caps don’t lower costs — they reduce supply. A National Bureau of Economic Research study found that a 40–50 percent drop in expected drug prices would cut new drug development by up to 60 percent. That means fewer cures and longer wait times."