Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The purpose of Obamacare isn't ... healthcare?

Not to Casey Myers at Facebook, whose explanation actually makes more sense:
Yet another reason that excessive regulation has caused me to be determined to hire an absolute MINIMUM of employees in my future business ventures. Apparently big government doesn't want us businesses to hire - they want as many people possible unemployed, desperate, on welfare and hopeless, so they'll be more likely to vote for more liberals and feed the cycle.

Let that sink in a minute. Think about Ohio's high unemployment rate, then read this editorial from the Columbus Dispatch.

And people wonder why I'm a secessionist...! Dear reader, it's not going to get any better until we reject conventional politics, either by electing people who are not Democrats or Republicans; or by shaking off the bands that tie us to the District of Coercion. Or both.

"One nation indivisible" is one nation irreparable.

4 comments:

Old Rebel said...

Whew! Glad to see you're still blogging. I was afraid this was you: Ohio Man Charged With Burning American Flags on Memorial Day

Harold Thomas said...

Nah, I'd just rather have a photo in your "Flags of the Rebellion" feature -- once I can get one made...

Anonymous said...

All so-called "Obamacare" really does is preserve the private insurance system and make some tweaks too it. It's not very far removed from what the Republicans proposed as an alternative to the Clinton health plan back in the 1990s. It's not real reform.

This country desperately needs real healthcare reform because not having it is a job killer. We're competing against nations who don't put healthcare expenses onto employers and our companies have to compete with that.

A not small proportion of personal bankruptcies in the US are due to healthcare bills. There is something wrong with a nation that allows its citizens' financial lives to be destroyed because they got sick. If I lose my job, I'm hosed as far as heath insurance goes. I can't afford it AND be able to keep my house (which is pretty modest by today's standards), save for my kid's college, and save for retirement. The numbers just don't add up.

We've helped create national healthcare systems in other countries, but no, we can't have a real system here that actually does keep healthcare affordable for everyone. Not only does everything have to get politicized in Congress, but corporate lobbyists are always allowed to manipulate things to their favor-- like what we just got out of Congress this year.

Harold Thomas said...

Anonymous:
I agree with your analysis, but not with your solution. Health care has not been a free market since President Johnson signed the Medicare bill in 1965.

Prior to Medicare (which is a time I faintly remember), most employed Americans had "major medical" insurance, which enabled them to meet costs related to catastrophic illness, but required them to pay routine physician visits and tests in full. This created a market pressure to keep costs low -- something that was eliminated when the federal government started its intervention in the market.

While health care costs may be artificially suppressed in some of the countries that have national health care plans, it usually comes at the cost of rationing and poor service.

See my post Aug. 17 for another reason we need to rethink Obamacare.