Keeping the government out of medicare.

There is a really silly phrase going around now among opponents of ObamaCare to incite fear of the--in my opinion-disastrous health care proposal: "keep the government out of medicare." By its nature the saying is paradoxical and illogical; Medicare is a government program; therefore, it is impossible to keep the government out. But this quote does bring up an interesting idea and one that people should fear. When government provides a service, it is the job of the politicians to decide how much or how little of a service to provide. Whether you are okay with this or not--I'm not--it is undeniably rationing. The problem is that when government is faced with the inevitable rising costs inherent in a ponzi-scheme like medicare, government has three options: raise taxes on the relatively young and poor to give to the relatively older and wealthier, increase the size of the debt, or limit services provided. All three of these options are unappealing, but what is really terrifying is the fact that millions of elderly Americans rely on the government--and hence, on other taxpayers--to support them. I argue that through Medicare we overspend on health care for the elderly, but it is terrifying that politicians in Washington are in charge of deciding the right amount of benefits elderly Americans should receive. What is even more terrifying is that this type of system might be expanded to include every American. I don't want Barney Frank and Chris Dodd in all of their brilliance to be in charge of how much health care and what type of health care will be provided to people in my age, socioeconomic, or politically-affiliated category.

Health Insurance vs. Health Care

This is a great explanation on the differences between the two. Professor Roberts explains the difference in a way that is concise, easy to understand, and intellectually stimulating. What do you think?

Will illegal immigrants be covered?

I am opposed to Obama-care, but not for all the same reasons as your typical right-wing nut. I am opposed to Obama-care because I think that it will neither lower costs or improve quality of care. I am also extremely skeptical of government and oppose this massive centralization of power by the Federal government. I will discuss my opposition and skepticism of this bill in later posts. For this post, I want to focus on the coverage of illegal immigrants. I have a solution; legalize every single one of these immigrants. I am disturbed by the anti-immigrant rhetoric coming from the right. Once again what is needed is immigration reform. There are issues that government should be dealing with: immigration reform, tort reform, removing restrictions on foreign nurses and doctors, loosening licensing requirements, education, and free trade, etc. These are the issues when the economy is good and when it is bad. I saw a letter to Newsday from a registered nurse who was saying that it would be terrible to bring in foreign nurses and that we need more American workers. Don't want those high skilled, productive workers ruining our economy by lowering the price of health care. Then the government would have no excuse to accumulate this massive amount of power. There can be no real conservative(limited government) movement if this bill passes because people will be dependent on government. Seniors will not vote against medicare and a dependent population will not vote against Obama-care once it is in place. This fear of foreign workers on both the distribution and consumption sides of health care is terribly unhelpful.