The universal problem with universal healthcare is the simple fact that it converts free Americans into slaves. As an individual, you can no longer choose to pay, or not to pay, for other people’s health care, or all the other things the government deems “health care” which is really just stuff people want for free. The word “free” in this context means free for them, not free for you, since you’re the one paying their bill under threat of fines or jail for failure to do so. Hence your new role as a citizen slave for America. Do you think you are free? Clearly, you are not. You are now required by law to work hard and pay for your neighbor’s health care wants. Is this the land of the free? Not anymore.
Insurance as it is supposed to be and is widely understood is paid for by people, for themselves and their families, to help pay for sudden, unexpected and often costly circumstances. Car accidents, floods, house fires, disability and death all fall into this category and all of us have one or more of these insurance policies.
As consumers, all of us routinely perform several tasks when buying insurance and annually when we review our insurance renewals to keep our costs as low as possible while still achieving the coverage we need. First, we buy only the insurance we need and then only for the coverages we want. We shop around for the best price for that coverage. We obsess over our deductibles to see how much raising or lowering them will affect our monthly premiums. We review our available discounts and make sure we get them such as being a good driver, multiple cars, multiple policies, an alarm system on our house, etc…
As a result, every other insurance that we may need is affordable to the lion’s share of Americans. Only health care insurance has become “unaffordable” and that is only because it is the only insurance that Government has tried to “improve” which as everyone those paying attention know, only makes things worse.
When it comes to health care, the Government saw an opportunity long ago to provide “insurance” for every whim and fancy that any group of voters wanted and lobbied for, and capitalized on this idea to secure their votes and consolidate power. As a result, health insurance in the modern age is not for sudden, unexpected and often costly circumstances…it is for everything. Let’s take a look at what my own personal policy covers for me, that you get to pay for with every paycheck:
Tubal ligation, vasectomy, home health care visits, nervous/mental evaluations, inpatient substance abuse programs, family planning, abortion, pediatric asthma, durable medical equipment, acupuncture, chiropractic visits, speech and occupational rehabilitation, physical therapy, post surgical glasses or contacts, infusion therapy, physician home office consultations, diabetes maintenance, contraception, breast pump and supplies, air ambulance, and skilled nursing facilities.
All of that is just for me, not my wife or daughter. Clearly, I will never need about 30% of what I am covered for, another 30% are maybe’s and the rest are things I would never want to use insurance to cover anyway, and would rather pay for them myself if and when I need them so I can keep my premiums down. The Government forces my insurance company to pay for dozens of coverages that I don’t need or want. The Government does not allow me to choose my own deductible so I can lower my monthly premiums by taking on more of the risk myself.
For example, if I raise my home insurance deductible by $1,000 I will save $250 a year in premiums. That means in five years I will have saved $1,000 which I can then use to pay my deductible if I have to make a claim, and I will “earn” $250 every year after that in savings. We can not apply this simple cost saving concept to health insurance because of the Government. I could choose to drop coverage for acupuncture, chiropractic visits, diabetes maintenance and several others for example, lowering what YOU are paying to cover me, but I can not. The Government will not allow me to save YOU money. Does that make any sense to you? Now…would this make sense to you if someone suggested this as a way to distort and unnecessarily raise health insurance costs so a Government could, “save us from out-of-control health insurance costs” by promoting solutions like Obamacare which simply increase Government power and control? Sure…NOW it makes sense.
What happens when Government “fixes” health care
Additionally, unlike every other insurance I can buy, the Government limits my “shopping around” to companies within my own State, which increases costs because there is significantly less free-market competition. The Government requires me to go through a third-party payer system, which increases costs because there is a middleman that needs to get a piece of the action between me and my health care provider. The Government offers my employer a tax break on the portion of my premium that he pays for, but the Government says I can not take that premium in tax-free cash from my employer instead to buy my own insurance. Why the hell not? I mean, if anything screams Government manipulation and health care takeover, it is the simple fact that the Government will offer my employer a tax break, but not me, for my own health care insurance. Can anyone think of any other possible reason, other than intentionally creating a distortion in the cost of medical care to use as an excuse to take even greater control over health care as a “problem” the Government will “fix” for us? In all these years, I can’t think of one. And to make matters worse, unlike all my other insurance polices, I lose coverage if I lose my job. Now why would any “benevolent” Government not want to give me the same tax-free break they give my employer on premiums and makes sure I lose my insurance when I change jobs as a result? A benevolent Government would not, which is why what we are experiencing is tyranny, not benevolence.
When you add up all of these Government controls and manipulations of the free market on how I can or can’t secure health insurance you can see how Government has twisted health insurance into Linda Blair’s Exorcist head spin.
Even though I would only want or need about 30% of what I am covered for, you and your children are personally responsible to pay for me to have everything on that list. And if you don’t pay for it, you go to jail. You are a slave to my tubal ligation, chiropractic, contraceptive, breast pump needs. And in turn, I am a slave to everything that your policy provides you. Is this not slavery? If not, what is it called?
The Government has turned health care into a right. Just like they turned housing into a right. But health care and housing are no more a right than water or food is a right. If you don’t have a right to food or water, how can you even fathom claiming you have a right to health care or a house? The only right each person has is the right to provide for themselves without infringing on anyone else’s right to do the same. So simple. So perfect. So lost…
While we’re at it, what about Lasik eye surgery, plastic surgery and many other procedures not covered by insurance? Since their conception, their prices have all come down while the equipment and procedures have only gotten more advanced. Using a laser to cut your retina or removing pounds of flesh, changing the shape of your nose or tightening skin to avoid wrinkles is certainly in the ballpark of other surgeries that are covered by insurance, and yet most consumers can pay for these surgeries on their own either by saving for them or on a private payment plan they work out with the provider. Meanwhile, all other “covered” surgeries skyrocket in cost. Do you remember the game on Sesame Street called, “Which one of these is not like the other?” When it comes to surgical procedures, the ones not covered by health insurance are as advanced and yet significantly cheaper than the ones that are, and the only difference is that Government is involved in the ones that are covered.
Here is an analogy. If the government did to car insurance what it did to health insurance, you would be responsible to pay the following for me:
Oil and oil filter changes, wiper blade replacement, an annual tune-up, tire rotations, an annual detailing, head light and tail light bulb replacement, smog inspections, brake inspections, brake pads, tire balancing, front-end alignments, car registration, fuel injector cleaning, towing, and air filter replacement.
Can you even imagine how expensive that type of insurance coverage would be considering how often you need all of those things even though they are affordable to most Americans to pay for themselves? Car insurance is not expensive because Government has not “Exorcised” it. When I need wiper blades or air filters, I look for the cheapest ones I can find and put them in myself. When it comes to detailing and oil changes, I do them all myself. When it comes to tire alignments or new brakes, I shop around for the lowest price from the best rated repair shops. I don’t rush out and replace my wiper blades or brake pads at the first streak or squeak, I wait as long as I can until they truly need replacement.
I shop around the whole country for the best car insurance. I only buy car insurance for the worst-case scenario’s, I make sure I get every discount I am able to, and I raise my premiums as high as my bank account can stand. I also drive as carefully as I can so I never have to use my insurance.
But just like health care, if Government managed car insurance, I would never do anything myself since you would be paying for it anyway. I would only buy the best oil and air filters that your money can by, and I wouldn’t really care how well I drive or take care of my car because you’d have to fix it no matter how poorly I treated it or how badly I drove. If my wiper blades got even a little worn, or I heard my brakes make the slightest squeak, I would rush right in and get new ones, on your dime of course. I would only be able to choose repair shops the Government sanctioned, regardless of whether they are any good or not at what they do, or how cheap or expensive they are. But I wouldn’t care about the quality or cost of the work because if it breaks again, you will keep paying for it until it’s fixed, and if it’s expensive, it’s your money, not mine, so why would I care? I would only be able to buy car insurance inside my own state, I would have no choice on premiums and I would have things covered I did not want or need.So considering all of this, would there be any mystery when car insurance skyrockets in cost and Government rushes in to offer more Government controls to, “save” us from the, “rising costs of car care insurance?”
Obamacare or Obamacar? Since America is so happy with the outcome of the former, we should demand the latter. Call your Congressman today. I mean really, what’s the difference?
Categories: Government Tyranny, Healthcare Reform, Socialism, Welfare State
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