“If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara desert in five years there’d be a shortage of sand.”    —Milton Friedman
With the passage of President Barack Obama’s plan for health reform, this quote from the famed American economist has become even more relevant. As the government continues to take over different aspects of American life, it is clear that the government is well on its way to trying to control every aspect of our lives.
The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has its merits and has potential, but the enforcement and deliverance of it has its major flaws that should be worked out before any action is taken. One of the positive sides of this bill is the fact that it would make it possible for students to stay on their parents’ health insurance coverage until the age of 26, depending on the company. This will help quite a few students, most of this newspaper’s staff included. While it means parents will have to pay longer, it will mean a great deal to graduating seniors who are looking at taking on a whole new bill, not to mention school loans and anything else their parents have been paying.
Another positive: to the bill patients can choose their own doctors, instead of being told where they have to go. This will give patients the option of going places they’ve gone for years or to places they’ve been recommended by friends and family, providing a new level of trust and security.
So far, these are a couple of the only positives to this bill that are for certain. The uncertainties that hang in the air are making Americans nervous about the future of their health care.
Applying a tax to people who do not wish to get health insurance is not a fair plan. It is peoples’ choice as to whether they want to purchase health insurance or not. Last time we checked, this was a free country. Where’s the freedom in being told you have to pay for health insurance even if you don’t want it? If you are able to get by without it, then more power to you; go without. The White House describes on their website this as being an “inevitable health care cost” for care that the uninsured will “inevitably need.” This is a false assumption that everyone will have to go to the hospital or absolutely need health insurance. Plenty of people do not have insurance and are healthy as can be.
The second part of the bill that needs to be worked through is the division and shifting of the costs for those with health insurance. If people are paying for health insurance because they can afford it, then those funds should not be distributed to where they fund people who do not have insurance. If they don’t have insurance that’s their choice and if people have insurance that’s their choice as well. If one wants to scratch the others’ back, that’s their decision; the government should not put a mandate on everyone to pay for peoples’ health care. To put it bluntly, it is not the healthy American’s job to pay for other people’s problems, such as alcoholics to go to rehab and smokers to get treatment for their lung cancer.
Finally, the payment of doctors needs to be tailored to their specialty and not the same all across the board. A brain or heart surgeon should not be getting paid the same as a Grand Junction pediatrician. While each has its specialty and each is important, it is also important to pay them what they deserve. While a pediatrician is a very important asset to the community, they do not deserve as much of a salary as a brain surgeon who went to school for much longer and have worked hard to get to the position they are in. Paying a brain surgeon a pediatrician’s salary is like paying the CEO of a retail chain a cashier’s pay; same general field of work, but two very different jobs with very different responsibilities.
Just like many things in life, and especially in government, this bill has its positives, but it also has its flaws, and unfortunately for America, the flaws greatly outweigh the positives in severity. Colorado Attorney General John Suthers has it right in joining with a dozen other attorney generals in suing the U.S. Supreme Court to try and amend this bill. This bill borders on the verge of taking away too many of American’s freedoms that we live and work hard for.
u
afriar@mesastate.edu