I

refer to an article titled '€œBuying time on BPJS health'€, (The Jakarta Post, Nov. 25). The US health care system began long time ago and saw a miserable decline in the 1960s with Lyndon B. Johnson'€™s MediCare, Blue Cross and Blue Shield programs.

Costs began to rise exponentially, while quality nose-dived, and corruption and fraud took over an otherwise enviable private-sector system. The process of utter destruction was completed with the introduction of Obamacare, where costs are out of control and service degraded to untenable.

Why is it that governments feel compelled to fix what isn'€™t broken and in the process ruin what private industry and natural market forces do so well: provide the best quality at the lowest cost?

What is being created with the Social Security Agency (BPJS) is nothing less than the subsidized fuel crisis of the future, with the result that the Indonesian health care system, already driving folks to other countries, will end up as a complete train wreck.

Why not address the problem with good policies and improved education? This path has far fewer tax burdens, fewer opportunities for corruption and keeps government meddling in the private sector to a minimum.

Remember: one of the most frightening things you will hear is: '€œI'€™m with the government and I'€™m here to help.'€

Bambang Guntoro
Jakarta