Healthcare issues always attract my interest since I work in the healthcare field; albeit on the periphery.
While the latest attempt by the Republicans to repeal Obamacare crashed and burned, there will undoubtedly be another attempt made to at least revise it. However, since I don’t know what will be in the actual bill, I would like to address a couple of the basic principles of the argument.
1. Is healthcare a right?
According to the Declaration of Independence, the basic rights listed are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The rights are given by God (or other higher power of your understanding) – they are not given by government, because they do not belong to government.
My neighbor’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness does not affect me in any way, except to put me in a position to be punished if I infringe on his rights. Otherwise, our rights exist independently of each other.
Fast forward to FDR, patron saint of the modern day Progressives. In 1944, he proposed a second bill of rights, an economic bill of rights. Among the necessities he declared was the right to:
a) Employment, food, clothing, and leisure (with enough income to support them)
b) Farmers rights to a fair income
c) Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
d) Housing
e) Medical care
f) Social security
g) Education
This gets a lot murkier for one obvious reason: who pays for these “rights”?
These days (and I daresay in FDR’s day as well) the “evil rich” who don’t pay their “fair share” are the likeliest benefactors.
The average low information voter would argue that the government pays for these, often without realizing that the only way the government can acquire funds is by taxation, money printing, and borrowing.
Taxation is by far the most lucrative option for the government, so to get money to pay for these “rights”, they take money from one group of people and redistribute it to another.
Back in 2011, Senator Rand Paul faced a lot of backlash for comparing the “right” of healthcare to slavery. It’s a very strong and emotionally charged argument (for slavery was a very horrible and complex situation) but the premise of slavery is simple: a group of people was denied the freedom to profit from their labor.
The Africans, brought to the colonies, were forced to work but were never compensated or allowed to make their own decisions with their lives. They worked, but someone else profited. Are there similarities today with healthcare?
Someone works and earns money, and the government takes some of that money away to spend on the “right” of someone else to have healthcare; or any of the other goodies on FDR’s list.
2. Is the new bill “stealing from the poor to give to the rich”?
The catchphrase to describe the House bill, among the talking heads, is “reverse Robin Hood,” but that doesn’t pass logical muster, despite Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s endorsement.
The poor, by definition, have very little money to take, so taking what little they have does not help to enrich anyone.
Rather, the bill is reported to offer a tax break to the top 1 or 5% of taxpayers, which actually means that the rich are simply being allowed to keep a larger portion of the money which they actually earned. The government is taking less of their money, but it’s not actually giving them anything.
There are a lot of complex issues around healthcare and taxation, but here are some basic questions to think about before contacting your representative supporting or opposing a new spending or tax measure.
a) Does an individual have the right to spend his money as he sees fit?
b) Who decides if a person has earned his money “the right way”?
c) Does society have the right to decide how much money is enough for someone?
d) Is taxation moral?
e) If so, how much and for what things?
There are few easy answers and even fewer easy practical solutions, but I just wanted to provide some food for thought.
* Christine Luc is a chiropractor, small business owner, wife, and mother. She also loves small government and conspiracy theories.
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