Toward the end of his speech on health care Wednesday night, President Obama said that he had been thinking a lot about the phrase "the character of our country."
Too bad the president's speech had all the character of a free lunch. Obama argued for the moral imperative of providing quality health care for all Americans -- but it's not such a moral imperative that most people should have to pay for it.
 In fact, he promised a load of goodies, starting with access to health care for America's 47 million-plus uninsured. House Bill 3200 would provide subsidies for families of four making up to $88,000. It also mandates that insurers would have to cover not only individuals with pre-existing conditions, but also would have to end co-payments for routine checkups and preventive care.
At the same time, Obama said, "most of this plan can be paid for by finding savings in the existing health care system -- a system that is currently full of waste and abuse."
I'm always amazed by the educated people who buy the fable that universal health care will reduce emergency-room visits -- and hence practically pay for itself.
Wrong. As The Week magazine reported, after Massachusetts passed a universal health care plan, "demand at emergency rooms has only increased; more people are seeking medical care because they are insured, but there are not enough general practitioners to treat them."
Continued... |