Why do we let them do this to us?
   by Curt Wikstrom

     Many Democrats have tried to push through what they call a "single payer" government controlled health "insurance" plan, requiring everyone to pay into this plan, and having this government agency make all decisions as to what coverage we will get for our health care.  Because a handful of Democratic senators refuse to go along with socialized medicine, the leadership has had to back down to some degree.  So now the plan is to get as much federal government control over our health care that they can push through and get all 60 of the Democrats to sign on to.  And they are all willing to sign on to forcing everyone to purchase insurance, taxing the insurance we all buy to pay for their schemes, and giving federal bureaucrats extensive control over our health care decisions.
     It is bad enough that all of this is done behind closed doors, that most legislators don't even know what they are voting on, that the legislation grants enormous power to non-elected officials to make important decisions over our lives, that our health care decisions are looked upon as political football to be thrown around by politicians in Washington, and that we are being lied to and deceived by those promoting this takeover.  But the worst thing about this health care takeover is that the provision of, and decisions about, our health care will no longer be voluntary.  Our President and the Democrats in Congress have forgotten what it is about America that makes it such a great place to live.

     America has been for the most part a voluntary society.  We have been able to make most of the decisions which affect our lives, with a number of choices.  We have been able to choose our friends and associates.  Voluntary businesses must compete for our patronage.  If we are not satisfied with the service or treatment that we get, we can walk across the street and deal with someone else.  If we don't like our job we can quit and work for someone else.   We can start our own businesses and provide services if we think we can do a better job.  If we are unsatisfied with the remedies one doctor recommends, we can go to others until we find someone who has an answer that works for us. We can purchase health care from a number of providers, and if we don't agree with the conventional thinking we can spend our money on alternative remedies and alternative providers.  We can form our own mutual insurance companies if we don't like the coverage of one, and offer the kinds of service and coverage that we would like.

     Yes, Americans do spend more money on health care than in any other country in the world.  That is because we are free to spend more of our money on our health, and we exercise that freedom.  Health care is not rationed in this country like it is in socialist countries.  So we can get more of it.  Up until now we have had a right to spend more of our income on health care issues instead of on other things.  We can decide what is more important for us, and government bureaucrats have not had the power to prevent us from obtaining the kind of remedies that we seek.

     Many of us do not want to buy health insurance.  The truth is that health care is less expensive if we pay for it ourselves.  If it were not for the tax incentives for purchasing insurance, many more of us would pay our health care bills directly, and only have coverage for catastrophic problems.  Many of us believe in alternative remedies to that prescribed by the main stream of doctors.  So we go to those not covered by ordinary insurance and pay the doctors who practice alternative medicine directly.  Millions of us believe in a system of mutual support, helping pay for health care through charitable organizations.  We believe that is a better way to help ourselves and others than buying health insurance.

      All of this freedom will be taken away from us when Congress forces us all to purchase health "insurance" required by them, punishes us with taxes and jail sentences if we don't, and delegates to federal bureaucrats the power to make health care decisions for us.  Whenever Congress or the President want to railroad us into another program that deprives us of our freedom, they talk as if there is a crises that needs to be solved immediately, and that we need to accept drastic measures.

     Many in Congress, both Democrat and Republican are ready to force insurance companies to cover "pre-existing conditions".  When they do that they destroy the very concept of insurance.  Insurance is when a business will take a risk that something will not happen to you.  If it doesn't happen, they will make a profit.  If it does happen, they will have to pay.  By insuring several people, the profits and losses balance out.  So the premiums can be relatively low.  However, if a person can force an insurance company to pay for a known condition before a contract is written, the insurance company isn't taking a risk, because there is no risk to take.  The person is already sick.  The person is not buying insurance, they are simply robbing the insurance company. So premiums will go up and so called "insurance" will cost a lot more.  But it will no longer be insurance.  In essence, the right to purchase true insurance will be taken away from us.  We will now have to pay into a welfare plan.  Compare that with auto insurance.  If you do not have insurance, but have a busted up car, and can force someone else to fix it for you, you are basically stealing from them.  If you have a car that is in good condition, and you have a good driving record, and there is a small probability that you will bust your car, someone will probably make an agreement with you to sell you a policy and take the risk that you won't bust your car up.

      Congress does not need to take our freedom to buy insurance from us in order to have a welfare plan.  In fact there are already many state and federal welfare plans already in existence.  Needy people can get help.  This is not about helping needy people.  This is all about power.  The so called "progressives" who now control Congress and the Presidency believe the government should have the power to make all of our health care decisions, and that they will do a better job at making those decisions than we do.  They won't admit that they are doing that, they will just do it to us. 

     Even if Congress doesn't  have a government monopoly "insurance" company, they can force insurance companies to act as a surrogate for them and force them to have policies that Congress wants them to have, just like they did with the banks.  For example they created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase mortgages from banks.  They made them independent entities so they could keep them off of the government books.  However, they guaranteed all of the loans of these entities, so when they collapsed because of congressionally mandated mismanagement, the government had to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars to bail them out.  Guess who the President appointed to bail out these government sponsored businesses.  The very people who caused the problem in the first place.  These people made millions in pay at these institutions, contributed millions to their favorite congressmen, senators, and the President,  drove housing prices through the roof, and the mortgage businesses into the ground.  And now they are bailing them out to rescue all of their political contributors in the banking business.  This type of corruption is why Thomas Jefferson fought a federal bank, and Andrew Jackson finally killed it, until it was resurrected by Congress and President Wilson in the early 20th century.  When the government gets their hands on the banking system, they destroy the money supply, which in turn seriously disrupts the economy.  Since its inception the value of our money has gone down by 95%, depleting our savings. Lately the Fed has kept interest rates lower than the inflation rate, so that our savings are actually losing real value, rather than earning a real return.  That is because Congress has raised our debt so high that the federal government cannot pay any real interest on the debt.

     Now these same people want to take over our health care, and do to our insurance what they did to our savings.  The federal government has been very badly managed by the Congress and the President.   If a business that was run so badly applied to become an insurance company, the federal oversight agencies would not let it start up business.  When we purchase insurance, we want to purchase from a company that is financially sound.  If we let them get away with it, Congress would take that right away from us and force us to purchase "insurance" from the most terribly mismanaged and corrupt institutions in our country today, the Congress, and the Presidency of the United States. 

       It is now up to conservative Democrats and Independents to preserve our right to make our own health care decisions.  Thankfully all the Republican senators voted against this terrible assault on our liberty.  If you are a Democrat, write your Congressmen and Senators.  Say "I voted for you in the last election.  I promise you this.  If you do not stop this full scale assault against our freedom to make our own health care decisions and decide where and if we buy insurance, I will not only vote against you in the next election, but I will actively campaign to defeat you and all of your colleagues within the party."   Then when they continue to sell us down the river, follow through, and throw them out of office.