[thymolu]

I'm of the libertarian persuasion too, but I'm really more of what I might refer to as a competitivist, that the government ideally increases competitive exchange of goods services and ideas. Sometimes this means more government services, sometimes less. Regulation is also different from service or resource provision.

In a lot of ways, this crisis was worsened by overregulation. The FDA and CDC to some extent contributed to testing shortages by emphasizing centralized micromanaging of test protocol over test availability. It was entirely preventable.

Many of the crunches we're seeing are due to rent seeking monopolies restricting provider pools and other red tape, that are entirety self inflicted. You're starting to see glimpses of this problem with things like lifting interstate licensing practice constraints, but it's the tip of the iceberg.

US healthcare needs a lot more public support in the form of single payer, etc, but also needs a lot of deregulation.

Libertarianism isn't anarchism either. Healthcare is one of those areas where I think public services makes a lot of sense.

[mindslight]

It's true that the government was a net negative here. But in an alternative timeline with the same agencies, international travelers were examined, possibly quarantined, tested, and contact traced when it mattered. The red tape took just as long to get through, but started earlier, such that mass tests were available when community spread was a concern. And there wasn't an official narrative telling everyone to just ignore the problem.

I hate to say it, but getting a government that is worse than nothing is the outcome of the "drown it in the bathtub" philosophy. It's a direct result of a lack of belief in institutions. I'm all for cutting government bloat, but it has to be targeted at middle management, corporate welfare and outright citizen-hostile programs (NSA, DEA, TSA, CIA, ATF) rather than kneecapping public services. Yet when politicians get elected on a promise of downsizing, they go after the soft targets rather than actually disrupting the status quo.

As for healthcare itself, tomes have been written about that. I think regulating providers to have to charge uniform prices to all payers, at time of service, would go a long way. You don't go to the grocery store and pay at the checkout, only to receive a bill for the cashier's time three months later. Not that this would have solved our current shortage, but it certainly would have made people less scared to seek medical help for possible covid.