There was a report, repeated often on the news today, that there are now 44
million Americans without health insurance.
So what?
No, seriously. What exactly does that mean? Does it mean you can't get
medical care? No. What it means is that if you need medical care that you are
responsible for paying for it yourself. In other words, there are 44
million Americans whose health care isn't pay for by someone else (i.e. such as
their employer as part of their compensation package).
Until I was 23, I was one of those millions without medical insurance. I went
to the doctor, got inoculations, got prescriptions when I was sick like everyone
else. The difference is that my mom paid for it instead of some insurance
company.
Don't get me wrong, not having health insurance means that you feel the
expense of doctors ($150 for a visit sometimes). Ones prescriptions can be
costly ($120 for pills). And of course if there was some catastrophic accident
it would have certainly wiped us out financially.
But let's keep things in perspective, free medical care isn't a right. That's
because it doesn't exist. Someone is paying for that medical care. It
ain't free. But when you hear reports on the number of uninsured, the
implication is clear -- that more people being uninsured is a bad thing and that
the government should do something about it.
I agree it's better to have insurance than not to be insured. But why is it
the government's job to pay for health insurance? What does the government
paying for something actually mean? It means ones fellow citizens are paying for
your medical care. I don't see that as very fair to the rest of society.
Especially on a federal (national) level.
My employer pays for my medical care. It's part of my compensation package.
In other words, it's part of my salary. If my employer didn't pay for it, I
would either have to pay for it myself, find a job that does pay for it, or
choose to go without it. Turning it into an entitlement, however, puts us
further onto the slippery slope of where some distant group of people are
deciding what is and isn't a necessity. I'd say food and shelter rank
above health insurance as a necessity. Are we going to start guaranteeing those
things? That is, that all Americans are automatically provided the same food and
shelter so that we can all have it?
The problem with equality is that it bumps into freedom pretty hard. I don't
think it's the federal government's business to be deciding what is and isn't a
basic material necessity. That goes for health care or anything else for that
matter. We all make personal choices that lead to prosperity or ruin. I am in
favor of some basic "safety net" to soften the results of poor life choices but
we have to draw the line. Universal health care mandated by the government is
where I draw the line.
