HILLIARYCARE REVEALED
Hillary Rodham, almost certain to be the nominee of the Democrat MoveOn Party, finally unveiled her government-run healthcare planyesterday. For comic relief Ms. Rodham told the assembled crowd that this health care plan would not be "government run." It's pretty much what everyone anticipated.
In essence ... everyone will be required to purchase a health insurance policy, either on their own or through their employer. And just who is going to require the purchase of these policies? Your local sheriff? Well, not exactly. The Imperial Federal Government will do the requiring here, and, one must assume, the enforcing.
Now here's a question that you won't probably hear many people asking, and that's sad. Just where in our Constitution does the federal government acquire the right – the power – to force free citizens to purchase anything, let alone a health insurance policy.
The Constitution is clear on this point, the federal government can only take actions that are specifically authorized by the Constitution. All other powers are reserved for the states or the people. Nowhere in that document do you see anything that can in be interpreted to allow the feds to tell you what you must purchase.
In her little talk yesterday Hillary drew a comparison to auto insurance. She said that states require people to purchase auto insurance before they can drive. This should come as no surprise, but she's wrong. The only time you can be required to purchase automobile insurance by a state government is IF you wish to drive an automobile on a state or government owned highway. You can own a car and drive it around your private property to your heart's content without buying insurance, or without wearing a seatbelt of having operating headlights, for that matter. Hillary's comparison is absurd, but I suppose it's the best she can do.
How will Hillary's government enforce this requirement? Is everyone required to file a report with the government detailing their health insurance company and policy number? Just how high will the costs of compliance here be? And what happens if you fail to buy a policy. Are you jailed? Does the government withhold your tax refund to purchase a policy for you? What if you don't have a tax refund coming? If you just absolutely refuse to buy a health insurance policy, will the government get some sort of a judgment against you and seize enough of your property to pay for the policy?
More questions: What will the policies entail? If you're not a drug addict are you still going to have to pay for drug rehab coverage? What if you have no plans to get pregnant? Are you still going to have to pay for maternity benefits? Let me tell you how this is going to work. Once the government mandates that every person must, under penalty of God knows what, buy a health insurance policy, you're going to have every medical special interest group out there demanding that the government require that those policies provide payments for their pet medical procedures. Ophthalmologists will demand coverage for eye correction surgery. Psychiatrists will demand coverage for psychological issues. Oncologists will demand coverage for experimental cancer procedures that have not as yet been proven effective. These people will be lining up .. and they'll be throwing the campaign donations around like confetti ... and the politicians will give them exactly what they want.
Oh .. and the MoveOn Democrats just love to yammer endlessly about the uninsured. The truth about the uninsured? Most are only uninsured for a period of less than a year. Many simply have made a choice not to buy health insurance. Some have so much wealth that they essentially self-insure. The truth is far from the scenario they paint.
Oh .. and wouldn't you know it? Hillary's plan includes increasing taxes. She doesn't call it a tax increase .. .she used the MoveOn approved code phrase of "repealing the Bush tax cuts."
Remember. This is not about making you more healthy. This is not about improving the delivery of health care services in this country. This is ONLY about increasing the power of government and politicians.
