Government Health Care

Tomorrow is supposedly the big vote on the big government health care bill. Everybody knows it’s a horrible bill, Republicans, Democrats, lefties and righties, not to mention the public at large. Even Obama knows it’s a horrible bill.

The thing is, the content of this particular bill is not the point. The point is that the bill, no matter how horrible, regardless of what kind of garbage is in it, establishes the principle that the federal government is responsible for our health care.

Once that principle is installed into the law, and into the expectations of the citizenry, it is only a matter of time before we have what is euphemistically referred to as “the public option”, and from there it is a hop, skip, and a jump to single payer.

President Obama and a lot of Democrats believe that would be a good thing, good for the country, good for the people. And they perceive that the current bill is pretty much the only possible first step on that road towards the ultimate goal.

Myself, I think the goal is wrong, bad for the country, bad for the people. So I see the horrible bill as horrible in root and branch. There needs to be some amount of government interference in the health care market, to cover those that are not covered in any other way, but most of the problems with health care are the result of way too much government interference, not too little.

If insurance companies were allowed to compete across state lines, and the buyers and sellers of insurance were free to decide what is covered, without any government dictates, and individuals and employees were treated the same for tax purposes, and something was done about the cost of defensive medicine and malpractice insurance, then we could see what remains to be done to cover those who wish to be covered, but are unable to afford it.

The less government interference and control, the better. That is the principle that really needs to be established.