Obamacare - Force vs Choice

Force vs Choice

The View from the Middle

I have to admit that the extreme liberals have succeeded in making me feel guilty with their “fix it, don’t nix it” message when it comes to Obamacare.  Over the last couple of months I racked my brain to find ways to improve this law vs just eliminating it.  After going through a case of Band-Aids, a mile of duct tape and a ton of spackle, I concluded that a fix was not possible because the law has a fatal flaw.

What makes this law unsalvageable is that, at its roots, Obamacare hinges on “force” instead of “choice”.  This deleterious defect is so fundamental to the law’s spirit that it truly does render it unredeemable.  Americans, and I think all people, would always prefer choice to arm twisting, however Obamacare is chock full of coercion.

And this coercion starts with the basic aim of the law, which is to provide health care (actually health insurance) to all people.  Obamacare accomplishes this, not by providing Americans more options at more reasonable prices to, but by forcing them through penalty of a fine (sorry, tax) to buy health insurance. 

Believe it or not, there are some people who actually “choose” not to buy health insurance.  I personally don’t recommend that, but then I shouldn’t have the right to force them, should I?  This desire for choice is so strong in America that even after Obamacare has been law for 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office projects that America will still have 30 million uninsured. 

Obamacare (let’s just start calling it the Affordable Care Act or ACA) also forces people to purchase coverage that they may not want or need.  For example, my wife and I are over 60 and don’t plan to have any more children.  Despite our lack of interest in maternity coverage and the fact that we are physically incapable of having children, the ACA forces us to carry it.  I’ll let you struggle to answer the question – Why?

I would prefer a buffet of coverage choices so that I can construct the plan I feel is right for me.  I may want a larger deductible.  I may want a lower co-pay.  I may not want pediatric services (another ACA requirement).  What I do want is “choice”. 

The ACA also forces doctors to do things they don’t like.  First and foremost, it tells doctors what they can charge for certain services.  This can push doctors to eliminate tests and or treatments for which they don’t get fairly reimbursed.  This will also control their income and in effect make them employees of the state.  Do we really want to get our health care from civil servants?  Envision your doctor’s office looking like the DMV.  You become a number instead of a patient.

Personally, I want my doctor to make decisions on my treatment based on what he or she thinks is right for me.  I want doctors to charge what they think is appropriate given their costs.  If a doctor charges too much, I can always choose to go to a different doctor. 

Finally, the ACA controls the Insurance industry beyond all reasonableness.  They dictate what insurance companies have to cover and what they can charge and even how much profit they can make.  That sounds suspiciously like government health care executed through a compliant insurance industry.

I’ll trust the free market and my power of “choice” to deliver quality insurance for me and my family.  I would also remind everyone that “control” always sounds like a good idea for “the other guy”.  Wait until our impersonal, unfeeling, despotic government wants to constrain your liberty or even your pursuit of happiness.  Remember, a government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have.

But don’t feel too bad for Insurance companies.  YOU are their insurance policy.  If they don’t make a sufficient profit in the first three years, the government will subsidize them.  And when our politicians promise to subsidize the insurance companies, they aren’t committing their personal funds to do so.  They don’t have any money.  They will be spending YOUR money, the final insult to all of us.

What health care and health insurance needs is competition and choice.  Removing the profit incentive and eliminating choice simply leads to inefficiency, inferior service and higher prices.