Posted by
Playful Walrus on Wednesday, August 05, 2009 3:58:22 PM
Let's look at a couple of letters written to the Los Angeles Times on Obamacare. Dan Witt of North Hollywood wrote:
The single biggest political phenomenon in the last 30 years is how the right wing of the GOP has been so successful at getting middle-class white voters to enthusiastically endorse policies and leaders who do not have their best interests at heart.
Hey Dan - you know who has my best interests at heart? Me! But you appear to be one of those people who want to centralize power with federal government officials, Democrats in particular, who claim to have my best interests at heart. I support limiting government power so that I can continue to pursue my best interests.
Sure, person "A" may financially benefit if a government program is put in place that takes money by force from person "B" and gives it to person "A". You know what tends to happen then? People stop being person B and become more like person A - less productive and more dependent. That is not in the best interest of progress.
Diane Welch of Cypress wrote:
The answer to the question of whether or not there will be a government plan was stated very clearly: "The government plan faces opposition from some who fear it could ultimately drive private insurers out of business." There it is!
Since when has competition been a bad thing?
You really don't see a problem with a "competition" that has the referee as one of the players?
Insurance companies do not have to go out of business; they should just make themselves better. All they have to do is reduce their tremendous overhead and stop catering to their shareholders by making generous profits.
It is the primary role of businesses to make a profit for their owners. That is their motivation for providing a product or service and serving customers. There are already plenty of charities, and you're free to start another one or give more to an existing one. If the insurance companies are really making such generous profits, then perhaps you should be a shareholder and enjoy some of those earnings.
You're right - insurance companies do not have to go out of business simply because there is a government program. But those companies will go out of business if Obamacare forces more and more people into to the "public option". Private schools still exist, although maybe they wouldn't if any time a student moved, they had to give up private schooling and go into a public school, and their tuition had an additional tax to fund public schools. Yes, private schools still exist but the public schools need more and more money to run, and aren't doing such a great job in general. Why will Obamacare be different?
There is no right to health care.
There is no right to insurance.
These people calling for more government involvement in insurance and health care are like someone complaining that a wall is light beige when it is supposed to be painted white. Applying grey paint didn't help, and now they want to apply scarlet paint. Free markets don't mean everyone is always going to be happy. But they are the most efficient way of meeting demand and promoting innovation and efficiency. We should be moving towards a freer market in this area, not a more centralized, planned program.
Previously: Rights Are Not Hand-Outs, and Hand-Outs Are Not Rights