The only way universal health care will have any chance of working financially is if it is modest, covering the basics and leaving the optionals to people’s own private decision making and budgets. But the Left isn’t about freedom, it is about the raw exercise of power, hence, humility is not what health Obama health care reform is going to be all about.
Now, President Obama wants to force employers to create wellness centers to induce their employees to live healthier lifestyles. From the story:
Any health care reform plan that Obama signs is almost certain to call for nutrition counseling, obesity screenings and wellness programs at workplaces and community centers. He wants more time in the school day for physical fitness, more nutritious school lunches and more bike paths, walking paths and grocery stores in underserved areas.
Leave aside for the moment that Obama smokes, do you see how insidious health care controlled by the government will be? And do you think we will be able to print money fast enough to pay for all of this?
Health care cost containment will become the catch-all excuse to control almost every aspect of individual lives and the private business sector. It will be the excuse for bureaucrats to encroach substantially on personal liberty, force grocery stores to open in places that may be unprofitable, destroy politically incorrect enterprises, punish lifestyle crimes–such as overeating or emulating the POTUS by consuming cancer sticks (but never promiscuity, a politically correct way of living that is more dangerous in the near term than other unhealthy lifestyles).
Health care reform should be about ensuring greater access to basic medical treatment for more people. Period. Don’t get me wrong: I have no problem with a public relations campaign by the star couple to persuade people to eat better and live healthier. JFK made a big splash when I was a kid urging people to take 50-mile hikes. But making this a subject of government regulation and legislation as a legal mandate is to grant the government way too much authority.
June 17th, 2009 | 11:17 am
Wesley I couldn’t agree more with everything that you wrote.
I would only add that it’s been my impression from day one that Obama’s “goal” IS to bankrupt the US. As you well know, it’s ALL ABOUT POWER.
When will America be weaker than when America is broke? Subsequently, the Communist regine can “take over”, which IMO, has been the plan since day one.
June 17th, 2009 | 11:41 am
A C.S. Lewis argument has often come to mind of late:
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
June 17th, 2009 | 1:18 pm
I watched his speech in a spirit of fairness, hoping to be able to support some of it, any of it. What I heard were scare tactics and the almost hypnotic mantra that anyone who contradicts him is either uninformed or lying. I hope the economy recovers so we can get out of panic mode and really begin to scrutinze what’s going on.
June 17th, 2009 | 9:57 pm
[...] Mr. Smith’s blog Secondhand Smoke over at First Things: Leave aside for the moment that Obama smokes, do you see how insidious health [...]
June 18th, 2009 | 5:02 am
I had no idea that Obama smokes. Talk about hypocrisy.
June 18th, 2009 | 7:22 am
What concerns me, hoever, is the idea that only basic services ill be covered when the definition of “basic” depends on who one is talking to. For instance, I think that one of the greatest priorities we should have via any kind of national health care system is helping those who need help with catastrophic living costs and independent living expenses. Otherwise, we could end up paying for condoms and preventive screenings, etc, but not basic equipment and treatment that disabled people need to survive.
June 19th, 2009 | 11:26 am
…and of course euthanasia will be the ultimate cost-control initiative in a rapidly aging population.
June 20th, 2009 | 12:22 am
[...] of locally. Don’t try and control every I-dot and T-cross of the practice of medicine, don’t try to use health care reform as an excuse to accumulate power, don’t impose rationing or utilitarian ethics. Otherwise, the opportunity for positive reform [...]
Links
Blogs
Find Us
Contact