I
do not see people so much as belonging to the Republican or Democrat Party but
as promoters and believers of a particular social and fiscal ideology. Occasionally,
Congress members of either party share identical beliefs and vote the same way,
regardless of the D or R after their names. They no longer represent the will
of the people who elected them but the will of the corporate interests and the
lobby groups.
Many
uninformed and ordinary Americans vote on their perceived understanding of the
issues after watching biased commercials and presentations. Some Americans vote
on family traditions. Other Americans vote for the most telegenic of the
candidates, or whoever promises most welfare.
As
a medical doctor and an academician, Dr. March argued at the time that
Obamacare could not possibly destroy our medical system and make it any worse
because it was already in a mess with so many insurance companies, in dire need
of tort reform, with so much bureaucracy, and daunting paperwork requiring full
time staff to deal with insurance plans.
No
to worry, this week we found out that 4,000 new IRS agents will be hired to
handle Obamacare. A nagging question kept swirling in my head, what does health
care have to do with tax collectors? Is health care a tax? Why would tax
collectors be part of the decision to treat people medically or perform surgery
on patients?
According
to the Hill, “the Obama administration is quietly diverting roughly $500
million to the IRS to help implement the president’s healthcare law. The money
is only part of the IRS’s total implementation spending and it is being
provided outside the normal appropriations process. The tax agency is
responsible for several key provisions of the new law, including the unpopular
individual mandate.” (The Hill, April 9, 2012)
Dr.
March told me what a hard time his medical students were having finding jobs
after spending $50,000 each year for a degree and how we are not going to have
many primary care providers left – nobody will be willing to go to medical
school if jobs are hard to find and salaries are capped by The Affordable Health
Care Choices Act of 2009. He was bemoaning the fact that a lot of our
healthcare will be provided by nurses and will thus be inadequate and lacking.
His
solution was rather perplexing – find a president who is fiscally conservative
and socially progressive. The pronouncement struck me as illogical and
impossible, as I see those two as polar opposites. You cannot be fiscally
conservative and spend money on social programs lavishly without going bankrupt
at some point.
I
did not dare ask him what his presidential choice would be in November. It is
impolite to ask such questions unless a person volunteers the information. He
did mention that his wife voted for Ron Paul in the primaries. Both had voted
cheerfully and eagerly for Obama in 2008.
When
I told him how corrupt the socialized medical care system was in Romania, 23
years after the fall of communism, he agreed that most good doctors in the
former iron curtain nations left for other places where they were paid based on
merit and not on a central government salary decree. Only doctors who accepted
bribes to supplement their salaries stayed behind to deliver care to the
population.
There
are not enough doctors and nurses left behind and people do not have enough
money for bribes in countries where medical care is free but care and drugs
must be rationed. At some point there is not enough “free everything” to go
around.
Socialized
medical care in Western Europe's nations fares slightly better. Doctors are
still paid a government capped salary, there is rationing of care, long waiting
lists for procedures, and gross negligence in hospitals. When patients have
sniffles, everyone is treated, no problem. That is when free medical care works
best. When more expensive procedures and long-term care become an issue,
rationing ensues, depending on the patient’s age.
Dr.
March was not aware that Muslims are exempt from the requirements of The
Affordable Health Care Choice Act but will be full beneficiaries of free health
care paid by the rest of us, a blatant form of dhimmitude.
Because
health care has become so expensive in Germany and birth rates are going down,
Chancellor Angela Merkel is considering an extra tax on young people in order
to support the pensions and health care costs of the burgeoning older
population. Could that become a future issue in the U.S.?
The
cost of Obamacare has been purposefully misrepresented. A recent and more
accurate report doubles the cost. This does not take into account the 1,500
plus exemptions offered to many crony capitalists for a year.
Dr.
March was not incensed by the fact that faith-based hospitals will be forced to
provide abortion on demand or that contraceptives are considered health rights.
Obamacare
is not about providing affordable healthcare choices, it is about government
control by unelected bureaucrats with no medical degrees or training over
hospital admissions, payments to doctors, medical devices, and forcing private
insurance companies out of business. It is about the most massive transfer of
power to the executive branch of the government.
The
law rations care to seniors and other classes of citizens and gives free health
care to illegal immigrants. Free
abortion services under Obamacare forces participation in abortions by members
of the medical profession who find the procedure highly objectionable.
Dr.
March concluded with an interesting observation, that, in the D.C. area, Republicans
who live in Virginia and Democrats who live in Maryland are two distinct groups
at odds in the fight over Obamacare while the rest of the country supports
Obamacare. Perhaps a biased poll gave credence to his belief but the polls I
read show the majority of the U.S. legal population against Obamacare.
It
is a moot point if you are for or against Obamacare. It is already the law, the
bureaucracy is already in place to completely overhaul and destroy the best
care in the world, and we are waiting on the Supreme Court to weigh in with
their opinion in June, which is likely to determine that the law is
constitutional. We, the “units,” will see each other in line at the IRS office
begging for healthcare, surgery, and pain pills or petitioning the 15-member
non-medical “death panel” for mercy.
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