Is ObamaCare Justified?
Each time that liberals talk about universal health care in the context of health care reform, taxpayers cringe. Taxpayers cringe mostly because they’re worried that they won’t like how We The People pay for it. Think that last sentence through a bit. Fred Hiatt’s article isn’t reassuring:
Obama’s plan to extend insurance would cost, by his estimate, $1.5 trillion over the next decade. He has said, rightly, that the country has to find a way to pay for that. But his proposals don’t come close to showing how, and Congress doesn’t like even the down payment he did suggest.
Why should we think that this plan will save us any money? I wrote about Penn Jillette’s criteria concerning global warming in this post. A few of his criteria aren’t applicable to health care but this one is applicable:
If the climate is changing and man is causing it and it’s bad and man can do something to reverse it, why do we think that government is capable of providing the solutions?
In fact, let’s see if we can’t put together a set of questions to determine whether government-run health care is a good deal. Here’s what pops into my mind about government-run health care:
1. Is the health care/health insurance system broken? If you say yes, what proof do you have that it’s broken?
2. If the health care/health insurance system is broken, can we identify what broke it? If we’re able to identify what caused the problem, shouldn’t we isolate that?
3. If the health care/health insurance system is broken and we can identify and isolate the source of the problem, what is the appropriate solution to the problem? In fact, is the solution multifaceted and multitiered?
4. If the health care/health insurance system is broken and we’re able to identify and isolate the problem and the problem isn’t complex or multifaceted, is the health care plan being put together the right solution to the problem?
5. If the health care/health insurance system is broken and we’ve identified and isolated the problem and the solution isn’t complex and multifaceted and we’ve got the right solution, what proof do we have that government can administer such a program more efficiently than the private sector can?
At this point, I haven’t seen proof that our health care/health insurance system is broken, at least not badly enough to warrant a dramatic transformation of our health care system.
If that’s the case, what’s the justification for Obamacare? Is spending in excess of $1,500,000,000,000 of the taxpayers’ money for this dramatic reform justified? Most importantly, what proof do we have that the federal government is flexible enough to make adjustments as market conditions and consumer needs change?
BONUS QUESTION: If it’s going to cost us trillions of additional dollars, should it be considered a reform?
Most importantly, isn’t health care reform more about the Obama administration grabbing control of a major portion of the economy than it’s about reforming a broken system?
Finally, given the ineptitude of the Obama administration’s cabinet, why should we think that this bunch is capable of handling anything properly? It isn’t like Tim Geithner and the Obama economic team have earned our respect.
The American people should reject Obamacare until the Obama administration can truthfully answer yes to these basic questions.
Technorati Tags: ObamaCare, Health Care, Single Payer, Bureaucrats, President Obama, Tim Geithner, Democrats, Free Markets, Flexibility, Cost Savings, Conservatism
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
June 8th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Cant afford it? Hey no problem, well just tax those rich bastards that make over 250 thou. Or is it 200 thou? No its 100 thou., yeah thats it, everybody making over 75 thousand gets the shit taxed out of them some more, or if thats not enough, we’ll just confiscate their estate. After all why should their children get anything, they didnt work for.
Any with more rice in their bowl than somebody else must be punished.
Havent had a government program yet that worked yet, but this one will be differn’t.
And people wonder why guys my age are cynical.
June 9th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
It’s time we as American stepped up and paid more attention to the plight of rich people who are unfairly being taxed. How dare this administration think that providing health insurance for those who can’t afford it will benefit this country. Health care is a privilege, not a right. Sure that tumor could have been avoided altogether if it had preventative care was more affordable, but some people are just more privileged to have cancer than others. The lesson here is not to be poor and to remember that the rich suffer too.
Obama has obviously been drinking the kool-aid of universal health care proponents when everybody knows he should be drinking the 30-year old scotch provided by our true heroes: for-profit insurance companies.
June 9th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Liem, you’re not an american. You are a blood sucker that is not a producer. If you were, you would not be willing to rip off the people that keep you afloat. That’s an American parasite.
June 9th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Lame,
When you give 35% of your income (if you have job that’s worth a shit) then I’ll listen.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
They have a need for speed, because if we slow down and look at all this bullshit, somebody, hell maybe even the great sleepinge media, might actually start asking some questions. Instead we have a political party and a president drunk with power and greed no corporation or self made millionaire could ever hope to match, and a media that is simply not doing its job.
There’s a book out now called “Liberty and Tyranny” by a guy thats forgotten more about American democracy than Obama ever wished he knew, and theres a quote on Page 22 by C. S. Lewis.
“Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely excercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to lilve under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good, will torment us to no end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
June 10th, 2009 at 11:03 am
You’re absolutely right George. Only people who make enough money to be taxed at 35% deserve to have valid opinions. Everyone else is a working parasite and should give more respect to the rich people.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Who will pay for all this wonderful governement when the wealthy class is finall been taxed out of existance?
Where is the breakeven point? If the top 42% of the taxpaying public pays 95 % of the taxes, and the government and debt grow to 50, 60 70% of GNP, as the government takes over more and more of the economy and more of the population is dependent on the government, what happens when there is no longer enough of the so called wealthy left to pay for it?
Are we going to blame that on George Bush, or Herbert Hoover, or maybe thaty rat bastard Franklin Pierce?
June 11th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Destroy the economy in Texas? Why didn’t more conservatives speak up when some asshole from Texas was busy destroying the entire American and Global economies? They must have had their hats out to catch some of the Trillion that was being pissed away in Iraq. Like the suitcases of cash used to buy worthless information from socalled informants that we didn’t even need.