Republicans and Health Care

There's been a lot of debate on health care the last few days. Check out this morning's Wall Street Journal, for example, "Soda Tax Weighed to Pay for Health Care" (via Memeorandum).

A "soda tax" is a "vice tax", like cigarette taxes, that gouges people for making personal choices that may have negative externalities for the economy. The upshot, of course, is that limiting human freedom is taken as beneficial to the "public good." And it's the Democrats who're always doing it.

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had a great editorial on the health care debate, "Republicans and the 'Public Option'." As it turns out, GOP Senate moderates are inclined to vote for Democratic legislation calling for the "public option" that allows individuals to opt out of private insurance for government provided health benefits. This is naturally the single-payer Trojan Horse for socialized medicine, and any Repubilican who votes for it deserves a primary challenge next year.

But I'll let Monique Stuart have the last word with her commentary on the Journal's editorial, "Health Care: A Battle Republicans Can’t Afford to Forfeit":

I hear the press keep throwing out this number of 47-50 million people being without insurance. That number means nothing to me because until about a year ago, I was one of those people. I often think about going back to being one of those people. The reason is I’m young and relatively healthy. I didn’t feel I needed insurance. Most of the time I still feel that way. Other than a case of pink eye I have barely even used my health insurance. Most people without insurance, at any given moment, are in a transitory state and will get insurance when they can, or want to, afford it. As I have said before, sometimes it’s just a matter of priorities.

This “overhaul” they keep talking about is just a set up. Like the article states, any concessions made by Democrats now will be superficial and easily changeable in the future. Both sides know this. If Republicans give into the Dems on this now it’s only a matter of time before the Dems true goal of single-payer, government-run health care becomes our reality. Eventually we will all be forced onto the government rolls.

The costs will end up being way more than any projections being offered now. People who are currently reluctant to run to the doctor over every hang nail will soon be showing up at the doctor’s office in anticipation of one. Why wouldn’t they? What is there to stop them? The only thing stopping them now is the cost. Take away the cost barrier and they’ll be there for every imagined illness under the sun.

This run on resources will inevitably lead to a rationing of services. The only reason other countries can survive on “free” health care is because they have beacons of freedom like us to take care of their overflow. What do you think Canadians do when their government refuses them treatment or puts them on line for an illness that is on a different schedule than the bureaucracy and isn’t waiting to kill them? They seek treatment here.

Anyway, I thought it was the Democrats that didn’t want the government in the doctor’s office with you? Isn’t that one of their battle cries when it comes to abortion? Where do you think socializing health care places the government when it comes to medical care? They’ll be in the doctor’s office with you, in the hospital, at the local pharmacy. They (some nameless bureaucrats in Washington) will be making the decisions on which medical treatments are necessary for which diseases, when it’s appropriate to go to the hospital and when it is not, and which medications are approved for your consumption. There will be no more choice in medical decisions. You want the government paying for it all? They’ll pay for it. And you’ll pay for it, too.

Have we all forgotten the old adage that nothing in life is free? Health care will never be free. We’ll be paying for it financially through higher taxation. And, more importantly, we’ll be paying for it with our freedom. Freedom from government intervention and interference in our medical options and decisions. I refuse to believe that this is what the majority of Americans want.

There's more at the link.

Monique "HotMES" Stuart is indeed hot!