Thursday, July 16

another monstrosity brought to us by the douchebag from California

As if HR 2454 wasn't bad enough, Rep. Waxman is trying to socialize America's markets even further with the help of some buddies- this time the health care system. Obama hasn't made it a secret that health care reform is at the top of his list of prospective changes. In his health care section of "Issues," it says,
"President Obama is committed to working with Congress to pass comprehensive health reform in his first year in order to control rising health care costs, guarantee choice of doctor, and assure high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans."
Now, that's a nice sentiment, isn't it? It sounds nice- Obama wants to make sure that all Americans have affordable coverage, and access to competent doctors of their choosing. There's a small rub, though. Outside of the ambiguous "promote the general welfare" in the Preamble, the US Constitution says nothing about requiring the government to provide health care to its citizens. And so, like the many bills and resolutions before it, the current health care reform bill (not yet a resolution in the House) has no grounding in the Constitution.

The unnamed health care bill is getting lots of play around the blogosphere at places like TLP and United Liberty and organizations like Reason and Cato Institute. The good news about the bill is... well... the good news must be that Congress knows that something must be done about health care. And that's about it. They are horribly misguided as to how to fix it; and of course, are suffering under the misapprehension that they should be fixing it. The bad news is that this "reform" has potential to make cap and trade look like a respite from government intrusion.

Even though Obama has been touting his "public option"-speak and claiming that citizens' private insurance coverage won't change (it'll just get better!), the truth is that the bill provides a limit. After the law is passed and becomes effective, it is no longer legal for a citizen to enroll in new private insurance. That means that the citizen, in order to have coverage, must enroll in the insurance provided by the government.

Now, for those who cannot afford health care now, and for those who don't mind having decisions made for them, this plan isn't so bad. For those who don't want a lot of freedom, and are more comfortable with the government stepping in and taking care of things, this legislation will make the way smooth.

But do we want everything the same? Do we really want to give up our choices? Those who think that this country is not walking down the road to socialism are deluding themselves, and this bill is the perfect example of that. It's a dangerous bill. I hope Americans wake up and realize the ramifications before something stupid happens, like the bill is passed.

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