When I talk about people being “screwed” by Obamacare, I’m generally referring to taxpayers who will bear a heavier fiscal burden and consumers whowill pay more to get less.
But maybe we need to use a more elastic definition because some Obamacare proponents are using sex as a selling point to trick young people into buying over-priced insurance through exchanges.
Chris Moody of Yahoo! News reports that subsidized birth control is the focus.
From the folks who brought you the “brosurance” campaign that promotes the affordable care act comes a new line of ads aimed at reminding young women the new law will subsidize their birth control. The online ads were created by two nonprofit groups, the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative and Progress Now, to encourage young people to enroll in the exchanges.
And the ads are not exactly subtle. Here’s an example, presumably modeled after the “got milk?” campaign.
As an unmarried male, I theoretically should support anything that makes females easier to obtain, but instead this ad campaign is disconcerting on several levels.
1. I don’t like government either promoting sex or discouraging sex. Simply stated, it’s not their business. Though if some group wants to discourage sex by making it less enjoyable, then linking it to government might work like magic.
2. I don’t like the absurdity of using insurance for routine medical expenses. We don’t use auto insurance for oil changes and we don’t use homeowner’s insurance to repaint the dining room. The same principle should exist for health insurance, with policies only covering large and unexpected bills. That’s how a genuine market works, but Obamacare will take us farther down the path of third-party payer, which means more inefficiency and rising costs.
3. And I don’t like Obamacare, so it goes without saying that don’t like anything of the law’s features. The one time I wrote something nice about Obamacare, I included so many caveats that I’m pretty sure I preserved my anti-Obamacare virginity.
But it’s not just the Colorado Obamacare exchange that is linking sex with Obamacare. The private sector also is getting involved.
Sugar daddies are using government-run healthcare to go after young women.
Here’s a blurb from a report by the local CBS station in Dallas.
The online dating website Seeking Arrangement is launching the new campaign in Dallas, targeting young and healthy women who are now set to pay higher health insurance premiums under the recently launched Affordable Care Act. The new law is projected to increase insurance prices by an average of 41 percent next year, the website states. They want to offer women a “sweeter” plan. Seeking Arrangement suggests that women use their service to connect with a “sugar daddy” who can offset some of the new healthcare related costs. The website has earned a reputation for urging female college students and single mothers to meet men who are willing to offer money and expensive gifts for companionship.
The website is even posting a billboard.
As I wrote above, I don’t think it’s government’s job to interfere with the decisions of consenting adults regarding sex. But I’m old-fashioned enough to think that it’s wrong if the government makes the healthcare system so convoluted and expensive that young women are encouraged to seek out rich older men merely to deal with the higher costs of Obamacare.
Some readers may joke that I might feel differently if I was rich rather than merely old, but we libertarians are a purist bunch. I don’t want to benefit from state intervention. Heck, I’ve already said I’d be happy to get rid of the mortgage interest deduction in the tax code, even though I’m a beneficiary.
P.S. Since we’re on the topic of sex and government-run healthcare, here’swhat Mark Steyn wrote about pornography and government-imposed health rules.
P.P.S. Don’t forget that Obamacare allows taxpayer-financed Viagra for sex offenders.
P.P.P.S. And I’m sure we’re all delighted that the government wants a database about our sex lives.
P.P.P.P.S. Our British cousins already link healthcare and sex, with government-provided breast augmentation as well as taxpayer-financed sex trips to Amsterdam.
P.P.P.P.P.S. Remember Sandra Fluke, the 30-yr. old college student who whined that birth control wasn’t being subsidized? Well, you can remember her ignoble role and enjoy some laughs with this great Reason video, this funny cartoon, and four more jokes here.
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