P.J. O’Rourke famously quipped “If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.” The reality of that statement began to “trickle down” to individuals this past year as Obamacare began to kick in at the next level. Roughly five million individuals lost their insurance policies as insurance companies began to jettison plans that did not comply with the asinine mandates of Obama’s health insurance scam. The subsequent inquiries into the further mandated exchanges revealed myriad problems with the government run sites, policies that weren’t even close to the level of service that the people previously had, astronomical deductibles and virtually across the board hikes in insurance premiums. There’s no need for me to meander through the swamp of issues that have been discussed again but I want my readers here to think about some issues that make all of this extremely clear even for a liberal to understand.
First and foremost we have to all get on the same page with this health care / health insurance crossover. While politicians scream from the floor of congress, the state house steps and anywhere else they can find a podium that we “must do something about our broken health care system” they are each and every one of them telling a fundamental lie from step one. The American health care system is not in any way shape or form broken. Any human being in this country has always been able to go to a hospital, doctor or clinic and receive health care from a qualified physician or nurse practitioner. Furthermore, health care and health insurance are not synonymous. These two are different products entirely and they deliver different things. Our political class has so conflated the meanings and dispositions of the two, however, that even many educated individuals have relented and begun to refer to the entire process of health care as though it automatically consists of health insurance. This is so ingrained at this point that in a chicken / egg fashion it is difficult for the uninformed to be certain which is the progenitor of the two.
Second there is no right to health care. We have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our constitution provides for a government that is to protect our life, liberty and property. Our constitution provides for a government that is responsible for making commerce regular between and among the several states. Nothing in our constitution guarantees either a certain level of health care or health care itself. In order to guarantee a service or product derived from the private sector as the output of individual’s labor the government must first indenture or enslave the party providing the service or product. This is a fact as the government itself does not and cannot produce goods or deliver services without the participation of individuals. This is an undeniable truth.
Lastly we must, as with so much of what we hear about and are told today, begin to understand issues from a first hand position as much as possible or a deeply informed position when first hand knowledge is not possible. We must cease to accept anything from the lips and pens of others and open our minds to the world around us to verification. In the immortal words of Ronald Reagan we must always “trust but verify”. Just because some reporter or some political pundit at garage politics says that steel is cold is absolutely not a reason for us to accept that assertion at face value. It is worth noting that we may want to qualify the statement with facts we garner from investigation to inform that person and ourselves that steel is cold after it has been cast or molded and cooled. We may further wish to clarify that the concept of “cold steel” is more of a metaphor than a normal state of existence anyway. My point is that we must stop being spoon fed by politicians, reporters, news services, well meaning friends and ruthless oligarchs who live and die on the premise that their money buys them influence with and power over the masses.
If I am to be free then I must be entitled to the produce of my labor. To understand that concept I must be free to think. In thinking freely I must be free to express those thoughts. As my thoughts guide me I must be free to conduct commerce as my conscience and my intellect lead me based on the market being consisted of the thoughts, expressions and labors of my fellow man.
If I be deprived of these things then I am not a free man but a slave with nothing more than a concept of freedom in my mind that I cannot bring to reality. This concept in its entirety is the target of Obamacare. The elitists that control our government make many claims to many people in very diverse groups. At the core of their ideology, however, is the desire to own the produce of my labor and in so doing they will deny me the subsistence I need to live and think freely. When any government controls our commerce as this government does and they then demand control over the produce of our labor as this one does then tyranny is at the doorstep. The United States National Government controls our commerce through the courts and the numerous agencies that regulate our businesses and private property. The United States National Government controls the produce of our labor through the Internal Revenue Service and they make it clear through draconian tactics via that agency that we subsist on what they permit us to subsist on for if we deviate from their labyrinthine system of processes they take all we have and imprison us. Now, via Obamacare, the United States National Government endeavors to have control over life itself by controlling health care via their ownership of the health insurance marketplace.
The system now in place does not focus on our health. That system is concerned with fees and limitations that control how we obtain health care, from whom we may obtain health care and what level or amount of health care we can have. This is strictly regulated by instituting a national care minimum that comes at exorbitant prices to the point where government must subsidize those at lower incomes which insulates them from the pain of the system and keeps them subservient to the government in perpetuity. The middle and upper incomes are stretched to their breaking points where they must decide to have insurance or pay a fine. Both methods serve the purpose of the government because either way they generate income to the national coffers. As the enrollments of producers are revealed to be less than required to sustain the subsidization of the lower income levels the fees and penalties will increase. This process will also necessitate the reduction in services which will be accepted by those on government subsidy because they will still be getting something for nothing. Eventually, however, the system will need further reform and this is the point at which the government will cry that they cannot support the system as implemented because the “Evil Rich” (read actual producers) won’t comply with the enrollment mandate. This will cause them to raise the penalties further and they will consolidate all three government health care systems (Obamacare, Medicaid and Medicare) into one monolithic, single payer system that they will claim is a cost reduction necessity.
The simple truth of health care is that the process should be simple, straightforward and between an individual and his/her doctor. Our day-to-day health care should be self insured if you will which is to say we should pay for it ourselves. I don’t have insurance for oil changes, new tires, tune-ups, wiper blades or any of a thousand other things I cover on my car. The same thing is true for my home where homeowners insurance is concerned. Why should my health insurance be any different. My health insurance should be a policy for catastrophic occurrences such as cancer, stroke, heart bypass and other unexpected events in our lives. Life insurance doesn’t cover the major life events such as children being born, moving to a new state or career changes but rather focuses on the one thing that can truly devastate a family by coming too soon before arrangements have been made for our loved ones. Health insurance should be the same. The lie of insurance is that you need insurance to cover health care because it’s so terribly expensive. Actually health care is terribly expensive because government is the single biggest purchaser and consumer of health care, government heavily regulates health care and the courts penalize doctors and hospitals with the most extreme financial penalties possible for even well meaning mistakes that are truly unavoidable. Ultimately government makes health care expensive and necessitates the need for insurance. If doctors and hospitals were put in the position to have to deal with health care consumers at an individual level across the board then day-to-day services would become cheaper and much more readily available as the open competition for those services and customers grew. It would be only a short period of time before the Walmart equivalent for health care arose on the scene. Yes Virginia, there would still be gold plated hospitals for Bill Clinton, George Bush and their ultra rich pals but the services available to the masses would be ubiquitous, affordable and ever growing in quality. Stop listening to the sound bites. Analyze history. Quit being ruled by people who tell you that life works when it’s controlled from a central planning control room by a small group of elitists who know what’s better for all of us then we do for ourselves. History and experience tell us this is not true.
Have you ever noticed those “buy here pay here” car lots in your town. The cars are usually lower quality, the finance rates are high and the lot owners and salesmen are slicker than snot. The simple truth, however, is that if you’re on hard times with no other options those guys will get you a car. Now if you miss a payment they’ll also take your car away. If you’re truly working to reestablish yourself, however, the opportunity is there. That’s the free market folks. In America no matter how bad it gets I can get what I need. I can promise you though that if Obamacare stands and if the tyranny of this National Government is permitted to remain established and grow through the cracks in the foundation of our nation then we will lose our liberty, our heritage our freedom and our lives forever.
Ultimately it’s about the power and the money. The government needs the money to grow its power with the uninformed teat sucklers. They must be able to hand out goodies to the masses so they can continue to demonize the producers. When they control commerce, produce of labor, subsistence and life itself via health care they will have everyone in the vice. The only question for you is whether or not you’re willing to continue down this path? How much more do we accept? How much longer to we continue to give in to the purveyors of lies. We must return to self reliance, local government, individual liberty and personal responsibility. The trip will not be easy. There are hornet’s nests to be cleared, viper pits to be eradicated and there are a host of strong men and warlords to be taken down in the process. Diligence and vigilance must be our watch words. I leave you with these parting thoughts:
“Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.”
Ronald Reagan
from his first inaugural speech as governor of California
January 5, 1967