Everyone's Opinion Newsletter

Healthcare has, for some reason, been a subject of much debate in political circles these days to the point where it has almost become the social pariah of the Democratic Party. They are using it as a whipping boy to show how evil the Republicans are, just as the Republicans use abortion to show how evil the Democrats are.

The debate should not exist. It persists only because the ruling powers of our country create it and perpetuate it. They are masters of dividing and conquering their so-called constituents. The government creates “moral” debates and uses them to keep the American people divided, fighting amongst ourselves so that we do not fight back against the oppression which they slip through the holes and corrosion of our overloaded legal system. We must, as a community of strong individuals, stand up to this dog and pony show and say “No more!”

When John McCain holds up his thousand page document about healthcare and asks us how we are supposed to understand it, we should respond by informing the poor old man that he is holding all four of the proposed healthcare reform bills in his hand. We should also mention to him that one of those bills, HR 676, is only fourteen pages long and very clearly worded. When the Democrats stand up and tell us that the Republicans are blocking the way to healthcare reform we should politely remind them that they control the majority of the seats in both the House and the Senate. No one but the Democrats are in the Democrats’ way. Perhaps, if both parties stopped taking money from insurance companies as campaign contributions, their vision would be less clouded by the sign of the almighty dollar.

Most, if not all of the current bills under consideration by the House and Senate are terrible mockeries of healthcare and totally unlawful under the Constitution. For example, HR 3200 would make it illegal for citizens not to buy insurance from a private healthcare provider. Anyone refusing to purchase insurance would be fined by the federal government. The federal government would then reimburse the insurance companies the money citizens could not afford to pay themselves. This reimbursement would of course, be taken from our federal taxes. Not very capitalist, or constitutional. HR 676, on the other hand, provides “Medicare for all” with no co-pay and total freedom of choice as to the doctor from which you may receive your healthcare. While I question the constitutionality of the bill, at least HR 676 is designed with the intent of helping American citizens and not big business!

I am all for the reform of healthcare. I pay a ridiculous amount of my monthly income to a private insurance company, and regular dental visits are not even covered under my plan! However, it seems to me that federally provided healthcare (and many other federal programs in general) is not constitutional under the grounds of the Tenth Amendment. If we are to have state healthcare, then let us do it constitutionally and have it provided by the states!

Healthcare is not a business, as our President seems to believe; adequate healthcare is a natural right of all living beings. It is the right to exist. Why would we allow private companies which function for profit, not our benefit, to provide us with healthcare coverage? Furthermore, why would we allow the federal government to administer it, given that they cannot be trusted to administer a lemonade stand? The question is complicated, but not for the reason that those in power tell us.

David,

Hollidaysburg, PA

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