In my study of the healthcare proposals of the presidential candidates, I've learned that the goal is to make every American buy health insurance, and to punish those who do not.
I could not find anywhere what the punishment would be, but I'd imagine it would have something to do with tax refunds. They'll probably keep your check if you do not have health insurance.
One of the candidates said she "envision a day when everyone will have to prove they have health insurance when they go to a job interview."
This all sounds fine and dandy to me, but I'm wondering: how can the government do this? Is it legal?
Then upon my study of the Constitution, and reading various opinions, I can find no place in the U.S. Constitution giving the government the right to force people to buy health care, let alone punish people who don't buy it.
Another thing I read is that federalized health care might lead to the government eventually making people have health check-ups. Setting the cost of this aside, is it any business of the government to force me to go to see my doctor.
What happens if I don't go? Will I have to go to jail? What happens if I'm 400 pounds and smoke? Is the government going to force me to go to a rehab center to fix my problems. What if I don't consider these problems? What if I enjoy being 400 pounds? What if I enjoy smoking?
Are they going to come at me with guns blazing? I mean, we do have a constitutional right to abuse our bodies if we want. Don't we? I can still salt my food and eat Big Macs at McDonald's if I want, don't I?
I don't know about you, but this bill sounds kind of like communism. Personally, I think I have a right to be wrong. I have a right to be stupid. I have a right to abuse my body. I have a right not to go to the doctor. I have a right to not buy into a healthcare plan because I'm healthy and am willing to take the risk.
In looking at it this way, is it possible that Federalized Health care is unconstitutional? I think it is. What about you?
1 comment:
Freadom, great post. This is an interesting take on the current Democratic plans that I hadn't even thought of. I would suspect that forcing people to buy insurance is not constitutional, and even if it is, the Supreme Court would most likely strike down any such law, since they have a decided conservative tilt.
The sad part, imo, is that the Democratic party seems to have abandoned the goal of creating a national health care system, opting instead to push these BS plans of using tax dollars to pay for private insurance. How either of them can stand there and call it "universal health care" is beyond me.
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