Any day now, the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on whether the Obamacare
insurance mandate is constitutional. Seems like a no-brainer to me. How
can forcing me to engage in commerce be constitutional?
But there's a deeper question: Why should government be involved in medicine at all?
Right before President Obama took office, the media got hysterical about healthcare. You heard the claims: America spends more than any country — $6,000 per person — yet we get less. Americans die younger than people in Japan and Western Europe. Millions of Americans lack health insurance and worry about paying for care.
I have the solution! said Obama. Bigger government will give us more choices and make healthcare cheaper and better. He proceeded to give us that. Bigger government, that is. The cheaper/better/more choices part — not so much.
Costs have risen. More choices? No, we have fewer choices. Many people lost coverage when companies left the market.
Because Obamacare requires insurance companies to cover every child regardless of pre-existing conditions, WellPoint, Humana, and Cigna got out of the child-only business. Principal Financial stopped offering health insurance altogether — 1 million customers no longer have the choice to keep their insurance.
This is to be expected when governments control healthcare. Since state funding makes medical services seem free, demand increases. Governments deal with that by rationing. Advocates of government healthcare hate the word "rationing" because it forces them to face an ugly truth: Once you accept the idea that taxpayers pay, individual choice dies. Someone else decides what treatment you get, and when.
But there's a deeper question: Why should government be involved in medicine at all?
Right before President Obama took office, the media got hysterical about healthcare. You heard the claims: America spends more than any country — $6,000 per person — yet we get less. Americans die younger than people in Japan and Western Europe. Millions of Americans lack health insurance and worry about paying for care.
I have the solution! said Obama. Bigger government will give us more choices and make healthcare cheaper and better. He proceeded to give us that. Bigger government, that is. The cheaper/better/more choices part — not so much.
Costs have risen. More choices? No, we have fewer choices. Many people lost coverage when companies left the market.
Because Obamacare requires insurance companies to cover every child regardless of pre-existing conditions, WellPoint, Humana, and Cigna got out of the child-only business. Principal Financial stopped offering health insurance altogether — 1 million customers no longer have the choice to keep their insurance.
This is to be expected when governments control healthcare. Since state funding makes medical services seem free, demand increases. Governments deal with that by rationing. Advocates of government healthcare hate the word "rationing" because it forces them to face an ugly truth: Once you accept the idea that taxpayers pay, individual choice dies. Someone else decides what treatment you get, and when.
No comments:
Post a Comment