Healthcare Reform: It’s the Fine Print That Will Kill You
By Greta Scriboni
Under Obama’s proposed health care plan, the government, not the individual or the insurance industry, will take over the role of defining our health care benefits. House Bill 3200, Section 123 defines a Health Care Advisory Committee of 27 persons, 18 directly appointed and 9 indirectly appointed by Obama. This committee will define the structure of our benefit plans, and believe it or not, only one of these 27 individuals needs to be a physician or health care professional! Our healthcare benefit plans will be defined by special interests, hand-picked by a President who is on record declaring his desire to develop a single-payor system within a ten or twenty year period. We have already seen the beginnings of a movement toward social engineering via proposed “sin-taxes” on sugary drinks, tobacco, and alcohol. What’s next? A tax on sleeping fewer than 8 hours a night, not riding your bike 5 miles a day, or eating pizza on Friday?
The Obama administration believes every individual is entitled to health care, and as of this writing approximately, 43% of Americans believe it is time to act on healthcare.* But is health care a basic human right, or is it a privilege and personal responsibility? And if it is a “right,” how much health care comes with this entitlement? Does the right to health care include all care possible to cure a condition, or only the care that is needed for pain relief? If you spend your life overeating, not exercising, and smoking, are you afforded the same care as a person who has eaten in moderation, exercised daily, and practiced healthy habits? Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we give up our individual liberties and responsibilities for the siren’s song of “health care for all.”
Are the American people really ready to take the lazy road to government-controlled health care versus maintaining personal responsibility to work, manage, and pay for our lifestyles, including financially managing the cost of our own health care decisions? We are not so unfeeling as to say that children, the disabled, and the elderly should not be cared for. But this can and should be accomplished without abandoning the free-market system.
Americans who are willing to be shepherded by big government are sure to be outraged when the seemingly caring shepherd throws off its cloak and bears the wolf’s teeth of higher taxes, increased wait times, and rationing to accommodate 45 million new patients. For those who say it is worth it to provide health care for all, I say, please step to the back of the health care line. And oh, on the way, I look forward to seeing you at the 6:15 A.M. aerobics class every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
*Rasmussen poll