In “The Scarlet Letter” Nathanial Hawthorne writes “…The American eagle, with outspread wings, a shield before her breast, and, If I recollect right, a bunch of intermingled thunderbolts and barbed arrows in each claw. With the customary infirmity of temper that characterizes this unhappy fowl she appears, by the fierceness of her beak and eye, and the general truculency of her attitude, to threaten mischief to the inoffensive community; and especially to warn all citizens, careful of their safety, against intruding on the premises which she overshadows with her wings. Nevertheless, vixenly as she looks, many people are seeking, at this very moment to shelter themselves under the wing of the federal eagle; imagining, I presume that her bosom has all the softness and snugness of an eiderdown pillow. But she has no great tenderness, even in her best of moods, and, sooner or later, -- oftener soon than late, – is apt to fling off her nestlings, with a scratch of her claw and a dab of her beak, or a rankling wound from her barbed arrows.”

Hawthorne was writing about civil service, but this passage also seems a prescient warning of the danger of nestling with the beast of government. It is a lesson Americans seem intent to ignore. One hundred and fifty years following the publication of this American classic there are alas, more than a few Americans convinced that warmth and safety is to be found in the all-encompassing embrace of the federal government. In stark contrast to the independence and rugged individualism Americans crow about; we are dashing headlong to the nest in hopes the eagle will secure our retirements, our educations, our profits and alas, even our healthcare.

One of the issues sure to dominate the upcoming presidential election is the future of healthcare in America. The lines are drawn with advocates of an eventual single payer system on one side and those that advocate a market based solution on the other. And typical of the current climate in American politics those advocates of a single payer system are cast as humanitarians of the highest order while those on the other side are selfish ogres that value profit over their fellow man.

It was interesting then to read in the British Telegram that in an effort to curb spending the British National Department of Health (a single payer system) is going to begin asking patients to administer their own health care.

The Telegram reports: “Millions of people with arthritis, asthma and even heart failure will be urged to treat themselves as part of a Government plan to save billions of pounds from the NHS budget.” The story continues, “Instead of going to hospital or consulting a doctor, patients will be encouraged to carry out ‘self care’…The guidelines could mean people with chronic conditions:

• Monitoring their own heart activity, blood pressure and lung capacity using equipment installed in the home

• Reporting medical information to doctors remotely by telephone or computer

• Administering their own drugs and other treatment to "manage pain" and assessing the significance of changes in their condition…”

Isn’t the reason we go to the doctor to have the significance of the changes in our condition assessed? Apparently having health coverage and receiving health care are two entirely different things. All those that feel comfortable with their grandmother consulting with a doctor over the internet in order to treat her heart failure take one step forward. It is a terrible idea and yet it is the inevitable result of the mistaken notion that altruism is a sufficient force to motivate innovation, encourage efficiency and deliver scarce resources.

Of course there is little reason to hope that revelations such as this will sway proponents of a single payer healthcare system. True believers are alas immune to any evidence contrary to their utopian vision. It will come as quite a shock when they discover that Hawthorne was correct: the brave fowl is uninviting to friends and foes alike.

Joseph C. Phillips is the author of “He Talk Like A White Boy” available wherever books are sold.