According to Vice President Joe Biden, the debate is over. Health care, by which he means medical assistance, is a basic right — to be obtained through government, and made effective by the Affordable Care Act — not a “privilege.”
By “right” he means “something others are forced to provide,” in this case by taxes, regulations, and the full panoply of U.S. law. Today’s “liberals” like to use the word “privilege” to mean anything obtained without direct government assistance. And therein lies a huge problem.
In his first weekly address of the year, Biden touted how great the ACA, “Obamacare,” is. How affordable it is for families, for everyone! It’s a panacea, though Biden didn’t use the word.
Actually, he didn’t say that we have a right medical care. He said we have a right to health “insurance,” which we’re forced to purchase — and for which many are subsidized, too.
How far does he go with this?
“An awful lot of people who didn’t think they could or would find quality, affordable health insurance are actually able to get assistance from the government to help them pay for their health care plans at a cheaper rate,” he earnestly intoned. “A family of four with an income of around $95,000, they can still get a subsidy to lower their health care premiums.”
You can see where the problem is. If a household making $95,000 per annum can receive subsidies, who’s paying for all this?
Perhaps you.
Can you see why Obamacare’s a prescription for financial disaster?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
6 replies on “Subsidy for Everybody!”
I also notice they talk about access to INSURANCE and downplay the actual harm being done to CARE. What good is insurance when the doctors are retiring in droves, the costs of care are skyrocketing, and rationing is in the future? Of course, the elitists who pushed this through won’t be rationed, they’ve profited from this enough that they won’t care how much it costs but THEY will have their CARE when THEY need it.
When deductibles and out of pocket are sky high, what does it matter if the doctors retire? Or if anyone has insurance or not? But, I guess, it keeps pay checks coming in for several people. Can’t over look the pros in this situation. (Heavy on the sarcasm)
If health care is a basis right, a human right, then how, morally, can the progressives limit this entitlement to the United States?
Should it not be provided to every person everywhere in the world?
Actual US medical care to the indigent before the (un)Affordable Care Act exceeded the actual level of care which was available to Howard Hughes, Nelson Rockefeller or Henry Ford II at the times of their deaths, regardless of their wealth.
What level of care does this right is required and for whom?
Further, why do we ignore reality? The ultimate prognosis, and end result, is always the same. Life is fatal.
The ACA will not change the ultimate outcome but it will result in rationing, additional market dislocation, retardation of advancements and further inflation of the sector.
As cruel and unforgiving as it is, the competitive market with voluntary exchange and its affordability constraints would better “regulate” this sector.
An additional result of the ACA will be the development of private health systems, most probably offshore, that Mr. Biden will be critical of and condemn as unfair, at least until he, or a family member, avails themselves of their services.
If I were Mr. Biden I would not be so proud.
I was at a Russian Christmas dinner on Wednesday night at a table full of people who had been Obama Liberals & wildly enthused about the Affordable Care Act. Not any more. Especially since California has taken this further. MediCal (which is wildly broke)under the administration of Gov J Brown, has been extended to “undocumented workers” who obtain a special drivers license. Simultaneously CA wants to cut payments to doctors by 58%. So tell me, not only who is going to pay for the shortfall? And who is going to provide this medical care? What a debacle this administration has perpetrated. The only people who are happy with ObamaCare are those who obtain it for free. That is until they discover it will take them 2+ years to have a cataract removed, etc.
The folks running the barnyard have legislated that every creature in the barnyard will be able to partake of large quantities of the bread that the little red hen bakes, just as soon as she finishes baking it. If she’s lucky, they might even share a little bit of it with HER.
Anyone seen her around lately?
Great comments everyone. (One of your all-time greats, Drik–which is really saying something.)
As P. Long points out, the fact that we’re subsidizing health “insurance” with deductibles so high that those receiving the insurance can still not afford actual medical care is yet another billboard-size sign that this program was designed to benefit the insurance companies — with millions of extra customers and a fail-safe bailout written right into the law — NOT the households (up to those making $95K) seemingly receiving the dough.