As we approach the end of the year, much of the focus of the media and politics is on healthcare, and the new laws going into effect. I am strongly opposed to nearly every aspect of the changes. It's not that I think that everything was perfect as it was, but this is clearly a step in the wrong direction.
People don't need health insurance, they need healthcare. Insurance is just one part of how that can be facilitated. Insurance is the means, not the end, and technically healthcare is also a means, not an end to itself. The desired end result is health, not healthcare, nor health insurance. Society doesn't need cheaper health insurance, in needs cheaper healthcare. This is due to both malpractice litigation, and pharmaceutical costs. The government shouldn't be trying to lower insurance costs; it should be trying to lower healthcare costs. Ideally they should stay out of it entirely, but the costs have been artificially inflated due to government regulation and manipulation, which is what made insurance so expensive in the first place. And drug costs are insane. I randomly came across someone else’s bill for medication, and saw that they were taking over a thousand dollars a month in pills, all at no direct expense to themselves. It’s just a game between the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies, seeing who can charge more money, and how much money they can get invested into the system in general.
Neither health insurance nor even health care is a universal right. It hadn't even been invented a hundred years ago. The government should protect "access" to health care, but shouldn't provide it. People shouldn't be turned away because they are black, or gay, or any other discriminating way. But it shouldn't be provided for free.
I am not a huge fan of tying health insurance to employment, but I have also never received it that way. People should be responsible for their own health, not their employer, not the government, but themselves. I agree that it is currently unreasonably expensive, but that does not lead me to the conclusion that the government should help pay for it.
Basic health maintenance care should not be covered by insurance, in the same way that car insurance doesn't cover oil changes and brake replacement. That would cut costs dramatically right there. And then just cutting out much of the regulation and bureaucracy would help as well.
Keeping oneself healthy is a personal responsibility, and hinges on many factors beyond insurance. Certain treatable conditions are unforeseeable, and occur at no fault of the patient. This is why insurance is important. Having the government involved in its citizen’s individual health is huge violation of liberty. Freedom entails responsibility, and if the government removes the responsibility of healthcare from someone, it removes that freedom as well.
In a more practical sense, once the government is paying for people's healthcare, that fact can be used to justify exerting control over other aspects of their lives. Anything the government deems to be a healthier choice could be mandated in the name of lowering the resulting healthcare cost that the government is covering. Certain places have outlawed soda pop and things like that, and this could be seen occurring in wider ways, being justified as being in the public good, both health wise, and financially. While I am in favor of people making wise choices, they shouldn't be forced upon them, because then it is no longer a choice.
Our country was founded by people who believed that liberty was worth dying for. Letting people be responsible for their own health and healthcare may lead to a few more deaths. But isn’t freedom worth that cost? “Give me liberty or give me death!” (Patrick Henry 1775)
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