Obama’s Healthcare Plan: Canada 2.0?

You really have to hand it to us: we sure have their priorities in order. Michael Jackson has died, and the media has been covering nothing else. Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, all the major websites are abuzz over his death; If I were a sociologist, I’d love to study the data regarding how the news spread across cyberspace. As sad as I am to see him, Farrah Fawcet and Ed McMahon all die this week, their deaths are one of the least of all the issues we could be worrying about. Iran is in chaos, violence continues in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, we’re on the verge of war with North Korea, the economy is moribund, and Obama is setting himself up to be the Democrats’ George H.W. Bush (who was, of course, the GOP’s Jimmy Carter).

President Obama, never one to let a “good crisis go to waste”, has been trying to push through his healthcare plan. I’m going to be honest with you: I have health problems, I come from a family with a lot of health problems, including a little brother with Down Syndrome, so I have a bit of an investment in health care system as it now stands. I ask you forgive me, and please consider my argument, and not dismiss me because of my vested interests.

First of all, we can’t afford it. All humanitarian and social justice arguments aside, we have trillions in debt, we’re in “the worst recession since the Great Depression”, and it’s just not something we can afford. How about this for an analogy: Even if you think that universal health-care coverage or socialized medicine is a good idea, you have to know that some individuals without health care can’t afford health care. Just as individuals who want to have health care and know that they should have health care are sometimes unable to afford health care, our country, our government, is unable to afford health care right now.

I would to like to draw to your attention George Will’s latest column, published June 21, which, firstly, proves that Obama does want single-payer, government-run, socialized medicine; secondly, that such a system is not necessary; and finally, that such a health-care system would be detrimental to the United States. To quote Mr. Will, “The puzzle is: Why does the president, who says that were America “starting from scratch” he would favor a “single-payer” — government-run — system, insist that health-care reform include a government insurance plan that competes with private insurers? The simplest answer is that such a plan will lead to a single-payer system”. Will cuts through the lies by giving us facts. There are 1,300 different providers competing in the United States, 70 percent of insured Americans rate their health-care arrangements good or excellent, and yet the Lewin Group estimated that 70% of those with private insurance-who constitute roughly 172 million Americans, or half our population of 300 million-would lose their private coverage, and be forced into government insurance. Of the 45 million Americans who supposedly don’t have insurance, roughly a fifth of them are, according to figures Mr. Will sites, are not citizens. Most of the rest are, again, according to Will, either healthy, young, and are without health insurance by choice; or are between jobs and will be covered once they’re hired again; or are eligible for Medicare or Medicaid. And, of course, anyone, legal or illegal, can walk into any ER in the country and be treated for an emergency.

Yet our dear leader Obama keeps telling us that health care reform is necessary and that we’re in dire need of change! The mainstream media, which has turned into the Obama cheerleading team, dismisses all objections to public health care as “conservative fear-mongering” or “lies spread by the insurance companies”. Obama just can’t wait to do everything on his agenda, because he realizes that, if he moves too slowly, the public’s infatuation will eventually give way, and, as they realize that they just elected an untested freshman senator who spent half of his first campaigning for president, and kick him out of office before he can turn us into Canada 2.0.

I could go on for pages about why socialized medicine won’t be good for the United States; I could talk about how Europe and Canada are able to pay for socialized medicine because they have small militaries, relying on the protection of the United States, and that, in Europe and Canada, they would rather have less wealth, less economic growth, and higher taxes in exchange for greater equality. I could mention that, if we go to socialized health care, we’ll have the same shortages, long wait times, people dying while they wait for life-saving treatments, and denial of care to those with chronic conditions, because their treatment would cost too much. But I won’t. While the Republicans, reeling from yet another scandal involving a supposed defender of “family values”, have been doing their part in opposing the President and the Democrat’s plans. The problem is, they’ve been offering nothing but opposition. The GOP wants us to elect them again, they need to offer their own solutions.

There are solutions to our health care situation, but socialized medicine is not one them. Tort reform, changing the system so that doctors don’t have to worry about lawsuits, so that they don’t have to pay so much for insurance, and can therefore charge less. Giving tax breaks to primary care physicians would increase their net income, increase the number of primary care physicians, and drive down prices. Rather than creating a whole program to provide the American people with inferior care, give them tax rebates or tax cuts so they can go out and buy their own coverage. People will seek out the best plans and the best prices, driving down prices and improving coverage plans. And, if you can afford it, paying with cash for medical treatment can save time and money.

We already have government health-care; we have two programs, Medicare and Medicaid, and both of them are out of money and on the verge of implosion. Why then, especially during this current economic climate, when our state and federal governments are all out of money, should we try to implement them on a larger scale? I just hope that the nation is not so distraught over MJ’s death that it will let Obama destroy our healthcare system.

3 Responses to “Obama’s Healthcare Plan: Canada 2.0?”

1. Erb says:

   June 28, 2009 at 12:27 pm

   Good job Blaise!
2. Siegfried says:

   June 28, 2009 at 2:18 pm

   You can add Cap & Trade to the “Now! Now!! NOW!!! Don’t think, just pass it!” list too. The illegal alien amnesty legislation promised for later this summer will likely be handled the same way.
3. ST says:

   July 22, 2009 at 5:44 pm

   “I could go on for pages about why socialized medicine won’t be good for the United States; I could talk about how Europe and Canada are able to pay for socialized medicine because they have small militaries, relying on the protection of the United States, and that, in Europe and Canada, they would rather have less wealth, less economic growth, and higher taxes in exchange for greater equality”…..I see Canada and the EU coming to the aid of the United States, not the other way around. Stop with the lame excuses and put a plan in place to take care of all your citizens and not have them die in the streets because they cannot afford health care. Actually listen to the plan before you trash it.