As a matter of semantics, no one is forcing me *making* me buy health care. I have no choice as part of my pre-existing human condition. The system requires maintenance; humans require health care.
America's employer-based health insurance system seems to be a reasonable, well-intended notion whose time should have long since passed. Unfortunately, it may linger for some time to come. The real answer to America crushing health care woes is, of course, a single payer-system. American Veterans know it, as do Americans over 65 years of age. The entire civilized world knows it. And so, I favor Medicare-For-All.
Until that dream become real, I am also in favor of a society where public hospitals exist, and they are not allowed to let people suffer and die outside their doors because they are unable to prove solvency. It seems We the People agree, as emergency rooms are, in fact, -ahem- mandated to treat people (instead of letting them suffer and die), yes? Good, yes?
These factors come together to creates the big problem: Emergency Rooms have become the de facto primary health care source for more and more Americans, who are either unable or unwilling to buy health care insurance. By exercising my choice or "freedom" to be uninsured, my emergency room visits inflate the costs to those who follow me into the health care system, thus unfairly forcing others to subsidize me (unless the idea of letting me suffer and die becomes an option). It all comes down to this: Who controls health care access and costs (and using what criteria)?
The is clearly not the so-called, Free Market Health Care system has failed America so badly, for so long, a just, representative, government should step in, as an obvious matter of life and liberty. Public health is a constitutional role of government, as there can be a no clearer illustration of the phrase "promote the general welfare".
If (the big 5) health care rationing cartels (AKA insurance companies) were people, psychologists would legitimately diagnose them as sociopaths. It's not their fault; they're not "bad people". The free market is not supposed to have a conscience, nor account for human pain and suffering, nor to accommodate for what Thomas Jefferson called "the Commons". Some would argue that the private health care insurance system should be abolished upon the same moral/ethical grounds as was slavery. I think that might be a bit draconian. But Free Market Health Care has failed us, and something must be done.
The Affordable Health Care Act mandate (originally a Republican notion, which they began to vilify only after President Obama agreed to it as a negotiated compromise), is not universal, and not particularly burdensome, in my view. To my reading, the mandate is pretty toothless and weak (compared to other governmental behavioral incentives) and it results in better health outcomes for everyone. We all get more, for less. This way is far cheaper than using the ER for primary care. The mandate makes sure (almost) all Americans are in the pool, leveraging us all as economies of scale. It also prevents my personal choice (i.e., not buying health insurance) from impacting your purse strings.
- Spock was right...
- Mitt Romney (circa 2009) and -gulp- the Heritage Foundation were right.
- 2012 candidate Romney is wrong...
- And he lies about his 2009 incarnation (among other things)
While distasteful on a certain level, the ACHA mandate is by far preferable to the barbaric, inhumane (albeit hugely profitable) pre-ACHA alternative. It simply mitigates and spreads risk - not unlike the military. It's what government does. The mandate helps hold down costs, and raises health care availability and quality for everyone. All boats rise (unless, perhaps, your boat is named Cigna).
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