With Justice and Health Insurance For All

Well, here we go again. Just over a year ago, in an article entitled If You Have to Have an Answer Right Now, the Answer is No, this writer commented on the age-old sales tactic of using fear and urgency in order to sell a product. Back then, I was referring to the multi-billion dollar stimulus spending plan. We were told that the world would end soon if it wasn’t passed. Here we are a year later with more debt than we thought was possible, having been rushed into a huge spending spree that we cannot afford.

Now the same tactic has been used to allow a government takeover of our health care system. Fear and haste were used yet again to coerce us into handing over the best health care in the world to the State. It was a power grab unlike any we have seen in our lifetimes.

As a free people, Americans have enjoyed the best and most advanced health care in the world. We have seen medical advances, medicines developed, surgical procedures invented and new treatments that we could not have imagined twenty years ago. I am amazed at the tremendous level of care and expertise that we experience and have access to here in America. The reason for this is very simple. We have allowed the free market and free people to experiment, take risks, raise capital and take medical advances to new heights.

The world looks at America and sees the best physicians, the best treatments, the best hospitals and the best medical care in the world. I really like my health care and wouldn’t trade it. And I am willing to pay for it, if it means getting the best care. I am also very grateful that my medical insurance company pays for this tremendous care.

Yet to hear our President tell it, you would think the system stinks and is broken. Supposedly, there are 30 million people who do not have health insurance. Since the population of the United States is over 300 million, does that mean that there are 270 million people who do have health insurance? By my math, that is 90 percent coverage. If 90 percent of Americans have health insurance, are they happy with their health care? The answer is yes, they are. But is it too expensive? Yes, it is. But rather than address the cost of health care, the Democrats worked to take it away from the free market and give it over to the State. The President worked (and continues to work) to make us believe that because health care is too expensive, we should allow the State to control it, because the State will bring down the costs. Are you serious?

If you want to know what State-controlled health care will look like, you don’t have to look very far. I have an acquaintance who does not work, lives on government handouts and uses free medical care. This person gets free, government-controlled health care. When she goes to the doctor, she goes to the “clinic” for free care. It is a large waiting room, packed with people who sit and wait for hours and hours to be seen. It is an all-day affair and resembles what you would see in a third world country. Give the state control of your health care, and this is what you will get. It isn’t pretty.

Make no mistake: This debate is not about the quality or even the cost of your health care. It is about control. Nothing is free. There is no such thing as free health care. People who cannot afford health insurance are not denied medical care today, regardless of what you hear. I have friends and family who do not have health coverage, and when they are sick, they are able to get care, and it is still better than what you could receive elsewhere.

The government takeover of our health care system is merely another brick in the wall of handing over your personal liberty to the State. It is a guise to allow the State to control more, take from some to give to others, and control more of your lives.

If we don’t like the health care system in America, what country are we trying emulate? What country is it that has better health care than we do? And do you believe the State is capable of being in control and efficiently running our health care system? How can we be naïve enough to believe that the best cure for the 10 percent of people without health insurance is to hand over the entire health care system to be controlled by the federal government?

So here we are again. We were told that the situation is urgent and we must act fast and in haste. We must move “quickly” and “seize the moment” and give more power to the State. Well, we did, and now we’re faced with an enormous new government program that will further contribute to bankrupting our system. Will we ever learn to take this rhetoric of urgency with a grain of salt? Or will we just give more power to the state every time a politician comes around telling us that we have to act right now! Again, I say, if you have to have an answer right now, the answer is no.

Brad Bradley is the former CEO of Senderra Funding in Charlotte, North Carolina. He now runs a private investment company and is a member of the CJS Board of Directors.

The CJS Forum seeks to promote an open exchange of ideas about the relationship between faith, culture, law and public policy. While all the articles are original and written especially for the CJS Forum, they do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center for a Just Society.