Compulsory Medical Care and the Welfare State

Melchior Palyi

The doctrine of the Welfare State is being offered in the United States as a bright and shiny new.invention. It is being accepted by some on the assumption that it is a device with inherent capacity to solve the complicated problems of mankind,-.the accumulation of the ·misdeeds of countless generations of men.

The term "Welfare State" has pleasant connotations. It carries the implication of a deep concern for the welfare of human beings and conveys the impression of a boundless' compassion and a benevolence without limitation. Dr. Palyi, in the first chapter of his book, Compulsory Medical Care and the Welfare State, realistically points out:

"In democracies the Welfare State is the beginning, and the Police State the end. The two merge ,sooner or later, in all experience, and for obvious reasons." He further states that "all modem dictators have at least one thing in common. They all believe in Social Security, especially in coercing people into governmentalized medicine."

Compulsory Medical Care and the Welfare State by Melshior Palyi
Meet the Author
Melchior Palyi

Melchior Palyi (1892–1970) was an American citizen of Hungarian descent — a distinguished, internationally recognized educator, author, economist, and financial expert. He taught in the Universities of Kiel, Goettingen, and Berlin. In 1928 he was appointed chief economist to the Deutsch Bank in Berlin. From 1931 to 1933 he served in the capacity of scientific advisor to the Reichsbank of Germany. In the United States, he taught at the Universities of Chicago, Wisconsin, and Northwestern. He acquired a national reputation as a scientific and popular writer, public lecturer, radio commentator and consulting economist.

Mises Daily Melchior Palyi
The 18th century proudly called itself the century of reason. The 19th boasted of being the century of progress. In the same fashion, the 20th deserves one of two titles: the century of Marxian totalitarianism or of Bismarckian social security.
Mises Daily Melchior Palyi
Governmentalized health services sooner or later run into the iron curtain of mountainous costs. The easiest way out is to curtail honoraria, denouncing the doctors as profiteers.
View Melchior Palyi bio and works
References

National Institute of Professional Services, Chicago, 1949