Counter-Revolution
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Posted on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 by J. Robert Gough 
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by Flynn
Last week (on Tuesday), House Democrats released their whopping 1,000+ pages, more than $1 trillion plan to "reform" the health care industry. (Is 1,000 pages the minimum threshold for legislation these days? Sheesh, the framer's just needed a few pages to establish an entire republic.)
The next day, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved its $600 billion draft reform plan. (Don't get too excited...the Senate bill isn't necessarily cheaper...they just decided to leave out, for now, any Medicaid expansion-a near certainty in any final action-to avoid the dreaded "t" word on cost.) Next stop is the Senate Finance Committee, which is expected to take a substantially different tact.
Eventually, the different House and Senate versions will have to be ironed out. The gulf between them is huge. And a White House imposed deadline of the end of the month is daunting. Think of it this way; in just three weeks Congress is supposed to completely restructure one-seventh of the entire US economy. (If you add up the three major pushes this year: energy, health care and financial services, Obama is proposing to completely revamp 35% of the economy...)
For those keeping score at home, there are three main questions to be settled in the coming weeks:
- 1. Public Option
- 2. Individual Mandate to have insurance and,
- 3. How exactly to pay for all of this
Over the next few days, Counter Revolution will look at each of these individually. But, to a certain degree, how we answer these questions is the least of our worries. (By our, I mean those of us who prize liberty.) Americans have proved adept at working around government interventions and distortions. (I personally know of three couples who are seriously considering formal divorces because they would save tens of thousands in taxes.) I expect we'll do the same with health care.
The real threat is what happens after we've eventually collectivized health care. Once we are all paying some portion of our health care costs, we can start dictating how people live their lives and what choices about their life they can make. Check out this excerpt from a sit-down interview Obama gave NBC news (emphasis added):
Obama: So, self-responsibility is going to be critical. This is probably not going to be something that's legislated. But I tell you what, every business out there is going to be looking at their health care bottom line. And increasingly what you're going to see is that businesses are going to incentivize their employees to stop smoking, lose weight, get exercise, get regular checkups.
What we can do is we can encourage those companies that have those sorts of wellness-prevention programs. We can make sure that it's easier to find a primary care physician to get a regular checkup, that everybody has basic insurance. But the American people are going to have to participate in their own health.
Probably not something that's legislated. Color me unconvinced. Word on Capitol Hill is that the Senate health care bill will contain a mandate that chain restaurants post calorie counts of each item on menus and menu-boards.
How long before we have calorie cap-and-trade?
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