You Do Not Have a Right to Health Care
You Do Not Have a Right to Health Care
Let us agree to agree on rights that we do have. We begin with one of the most significant phrases in literary history:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."
Life: The government shouldn't be able to kill you. If you burn a flag, if you say something mean about George Bush, if you don't like asparagus, the feds can't come to your house and confiscate your life.
Liberty: The government shouldn't be able to control your comings and goings. Driving to Myrtle Beach for Summer vacation cannot be prohibited or legislated against. You can quit your job, change apartments, or hang out in a doughnut shop for the free wireless.
The Pursuit of Happiness: The government shouldn't be able to stop you from doing what you think is best for you. You can invest in a worm farm. You can spend your career in a union job. You can visit Myrtle Beach and sleep in a tent in a KOA Kampground.
What do these rights have in common?
Several common threads run through these rights:
- They are passive to provide. All the government has to do is stay out of the way.
- They cost nothing to provide. No government agency need be created.
- They are uniform. No one is excluded. The government can easily not kill everyone, not impede everyone, and not boss everyone around.
Note: these rights are not passive or free to protect. No one is arguing that.
Let us apply these rights to health care
Assume that health care is indeed a right. From that thesis, how does it dovetail with our Big Three rights?
Health care is not passive to provide. Government will take over 1/6th of the economy. Agencies will be created and expanded. Thousands of pages of regulations will be written. The health care bill is over 2000 pages all by itself. Oddly enough, the bill signed by Barack Hussein Obama does not include verbiage obligating insurance companies to accept children with preexisting conditions. Obama campaigned on that promise.
Health care is not free. Government will confiscate resources from citizens to pay for the health care of other citizens. If you never get sick, you will see no benefit. If you get sick and you don't go to the doctor, you will see no benefit. None of us expect the government to force us to visit the doctor, do we? Oddly enough, the bill signed by Barack Hussein Obama forces all citizens into insurance pools that will provide coverage sometimes not wanted or even needed by some. For example, a 70 year old woman will have pregnancy coverage on her policy.
Health care is not uniform to provide. Numerous exemptions have already been added to bill. The entire state of Hawaii has been exempted. Some Indian tribes have been exempted. Citizens with 'premium' (as defined by the government) insurance plans will pay a 35%-40% tax on their plans.
Congress exempted themselves and their families.
Whatcha think?
"The government kills people all the time!"
True. Let's not legislate any more of it. You don't have to refer to it as a "Death Panel", but some bureaucrat somewhere will be deciding if and when you see the doctor. Health care will be rationed; it's a finite resource and all finite resources must be rationed if they are ostensibly given away to the citizenry.
"People can't afford health care!"
Sometimes true, sometimes people simply choose to buy something else. Regardless, it's still beyond the purview of the government to buy health care or even health insurance for everyone. It's not an issue of what you think the government should do. It's an issue of what the government is permitted by law to do.
Honestly, if you feel strongly about the right to health care, pass a constitutional amendment. We have a well-defined structure for getting that accomplished.
"The government does all kinds of narrow stuff that doesn't benefit everyone. Special classes are given special benefits all the time."
True, but we know special treatment is not constitutionally viable . Why should we lay on more of that?
"No one likes their health care! No one likes their health insurance!"
Hyperbole aside, that's not the government's problem. The free market will sort it out.
"You''re cold and cruel!"
Ad hominem attack. Anyway, hundreds of thousands of pages of government regulations have no heart either. At least an insurance company can be sued. Have you ever tried to navigate government bureaucracy? Ever struggle to appeal a Medicare or Social Security denial? The AMA calculated that Medicare denied claims in 2008 at a greater rate than Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, Coventry, Humana, and UHC.
"Everyone has a right to health!"
No. Sorry. You can't even guarantee your own health, let alone the health of a nation.
