Ranting about Healthcare

Most of you are probably sick of it ... and others probably won't bother to read it. But I've been seeing and hearing the same counter arguments repeatedly so I figured I'd write my response in a central place.

'Government makes you buy car insurance, it's the same thing.'

No ... actually there are several differences. First, driving is not a basic human right, life is. There is nowhere I need to go that I can't get to by some other means, thus I can choose not to drive, and therefore I don't need car insurance. Many people do this, particularly in large cities. Also ... I don't actually have to have car insurance unless I drive on public roads ... IE - if I only drive on private property I don't need car insurance (or a license for that matter).

The auto insurance issue also fails in the fact that the government does not penalize me if I choose to have more coverage than they 'deem' appropriate. If I choose to pay more to have a lower deductible, or higher coverage in the case of an accident that is my choice. With health insurance, however, the federal government has chosen to place a ceiling above which you will be taxed if you choose to exceed what they 'deem' to be sufficient. They are attempting to mandate not only minimum coverage, but maximum as well ... determining that if you can afford better health coverage than 'average' you should be punished for that success ... it's simply wealth envy, nothing more.

Second off ... and this may sound minor ... but that law is a state law, not a federal law.

What's the difference? Simple ... one is the way this country was meant to run, the other isn't. That is to say, the Federal government was supposed to have very little direct impact/control of individuals, States were meant to have more impact, and cities/towns or other local communities were meant to have the majority of the direct effect on individual citizens ... this was to keep the politics local ... so that the people that passed the laws that effected you lived, shopped, worked directly in the community that they were effecting ... and were there, in the community when they did it.

Yes, the member of the House of Representatives 'live' in their districts, but many of them only do so part time. (As for much of the year they are in D.C. not in their home districts, and they are not in their districts when they cast their votes.)

Remember, the founding fathers were distrustful of strong central government ... they had, after all, just won their independence from one.

Which actually brings me to my next point, 'Opposing the government isn't American.'

Well, actually, one could easily argue that this country was founded on the principle of strongly opposing a government that is not listening to it's people. Much as many people feel that the current government is not listening to the people ... and is, in fact, flaunting the fact that they aren't going to listen to the people.

Now, I don't believe that we are yet to the point that open revolt is warranted, and I am completely against the use of threats and violence in this debate. The Courts and/or the ballot box is still the place to ultimately resolve this issue.

'people are going to get the care at the emergency room and everyone has to pay for that ...'

That is true ... and you know what ... it's not going to change. In fact I'd be willing to bet it gets worse.

The fact of the matter is that people without insurance (and since the CBO estimates that this plan will only cover 3/5ths of the uninsured there will still be plenty of them, mainly illegal aliens) will still get care at the emergency room ... and that will still be paid for the same way it is now ... through insurance premiums and tax money. Only now I'll be paying HIGHER premiums and HIGHER taxes than I was before! Bonus!!

The CBO originally reported that the plan would likely cause a 25% increase to the cost of the average health insurance policy. Add to that an increased tax burden (yes on much of the middle class) and an increased tax burden on employers (this will ultimately hit the working class both in terms of higher price of goods and lower pay) and what you've got is a higher cost to get to the same place.

In fact several groups that opposed the bill did so on the ground that it realistically does nothing to lower the cost of health care or insurance. The hope is that a majority of the 'uninsured' that will be put into the insurance system will be healthy and, therefore, need little to no care and as a result can carry the additional cost of other people's care ... the fact of the matter is that many will be people that will need substantial health care at significant cost, costs that the insurance companies do not have the spare cash to absorb and will therefore have to raise premiums to cover.

'It lowers the deficit'

Um ... no ... not even close. The CBO report said that it would cut the deficit by about 132 billion over 10 years .... BUT ... in another report it estimated the budget for the administrative and oversight agencies that the bill establishes (but does not fund) would be aproximately 16o billion over the same 10 year period, but that amount was not included in the report because the funding for those agencies was not included in the bill. Also the numbers in the CBO assume that the 'Doc Fix' to prevent a scheduled 21% cut in medicare payments to doctors does not get passed ... except Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership have assured people that it would be passed (and is currently part of the extension of unemployment bill working it's way through the congress now) which would put another 400 billion or so back on the cost of the bill.

And all of that assumes, of course, that the estimates are anything remotely close to reality ... which the government doesn't exactly have a good track record on.

The fact is that when boiled down the bill spends a lot, to achieve a little. Will it be better than where we were? Possibly, but I highly doubt it. The better question, however, is will the result be worth the price? There is a point in any project or endeavor there is a point past which the effort and cost is no longer worth the return ....

In the end ... Health insurance is not the providence of the Federal Government. Neither to control nor to mandate. The Government has grown and expanded, reaching far beyond it's intended role in many aspects ... this, I believe, is where we need to draw the line; we need to stop this growth and, if possible, reverse the trend or the freedoms of America may disappear into the pages of history.... I will not accept the right of the federal government to dictate what I must buy for my own well being any more than I would accept their ability to tell me what type of car I must buy, or where I must work, or for how much; Nor will I stand by quietly about it.

In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." and this is something that I feel matters, because as our rights and freedoms erode so to do our lives ... stolen away never to be returned ... seized for the crime of success and hard work.