Deconstructing The News

Baucus’ Health Bill To Mandate Insurance Coverage

Posted on 17. Sep, 2009 by Josh Ray in Health Care, Liberal Logic

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus presented his new health care bill on Wednesday without the support of one Republican.  While his bill did do away with the government option that has caused so much controversy it still was just too much for the conservatives and many liberals think it doesn’t do enough.  In an effort to garnish support Baucus made this statement that sounded like something Braveheart said “That is why this is our moment in history. This is our chance to reform health care in America. We cannot let this opportunity pass.”

One of the big problems Republicans are having with Baucus’ bill is that is mandates that every American buy an insurance policy.  You may have heard the argument that car insurance is required so health insurance should be too.  Let me take a moment and explain why that argument makes absolutely no sense.  You car insurance is broken into a few different parts and the only part that is required is the liability portion, this is the part that pays for damage you cause to someone else.  The reason this part of insurance is required is because if you hit someone or something than you are liable (responsible) for fixing it.  Most average Americans don’t have an extra $25,000 lying around that they could use in the case of an accident so the government has required that we carry insurance.  It’s the responsible thing to do and it makes sense because someone else shouldn’t go bankrupt because of your poor driving.

The other main parts of your insurance policy are the comprehensive and collision coverages, these cover your car when it is damaged in an accident that you cause.  Do you think that the government has required this portion of insurance?  No.  Why not?  Because if you wreck your own car and didn’t pay for the insurance to fix it you are the only person that suffers.  If you have a loan on the vehicle than your bank may require this coverage but that is just a way for them to protect their investment and has nothing to do with the government.

So let’s look at health insurance and compare it to auto insurance and see if they are even close.  If you get sick or are hospitalized is that going to have any sort of financial impact on me?  No, unless you use one of the government plans to pay for yourself in which case my taxes would be paying a portion of it but that wouldn’t be a problem if the government wasn’t so involved in the first place.  Your health insurance is more like the comprehensive/collision coverage on your auto policy, it pays to fix you when your sick.  The government doesn’t care about your car if you don’t so why should they worry so much about your health if you aren’t.

The only real way that your health could affect others is if you aren’t vaccinated and start spreading something but there are clinics all over this country that help lower income families get the shots they need.  The truth is that most uninsured Americans are either young & healthy and have decided that they don’t want the insurance now or they are entrepreneurs that have taken a risk and understand the consequences of their choices.  The White House wants us to believe that there are 46 million Americans that just can’t get the medical care they need and that is a flat out lie.  The government has programs set up to help most of the people that really can’t afford insurance.

I see this mandate as a back door way to sneak in a government option.  When the government starts telling healthy young adults that they have to start paying an extra $500-$1,000 a month towards a health insurance plan that they don’t want many will fight it and in order to ‘help’ them the government will come in and offer a cheaper public option.  If someone doesn’t want to buy health insurance they shouldn’t be forced to.  You breaking your leg is not going to infringe on my pursuit of life, liberty and happiness and you should have the right to spend your money how and where you want.

Tags: health care reform