{"id":1050,"date":"2010-03-23T20:48:54","date_gmt":"2010-03-24T03:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=1050"},"modified":"2019-10-31T08:43:05","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T15:43:05","slug":"the-redistribution-of-health-excuse-me-but-i-think-im-gonna-be-sick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id1050-the-redistribution-of-health-excuse-me-but-i-think-im-gonna-be-sick.html","title":{"rendered":"The Redistribution of Health: Excuse Me, But I Think I’m Gonna Be Sick"},"content":{"rendered":"

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. – <\/em>Abraham Lincoln
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

I don’t feel so good.<\/p>\n

The United States Congress stuck their middle finger into the eye of a majority of the American people when they voted to enact a radical government takeover of our healthcare system – despite the fact that 87% of people with private insurance and 82% of people on Medicare rated the quality of their health care as excellent or good<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I was one of those 87% and, yeah, I’m pissed off.<\/p>\n

I’m pissed off because too many people in Congress – and the US for that matter – are gravely mistaken when they argue that health care is an American right.<\/p>\n

I’m pissed off because those same people fail to understand that the Declaration of Independence affirms that the only rights bestowed to us by our Creator are the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Or that those rights merely give us the right to work for what we want<\/a> – not to be given anything we want without effort.<\/p>\n

I’m pissed off because this bill was cobbled together with enough slimy backroom deals<\/a> to make Rod Blagojevich wince<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m pissed off because my kids’ standard of living will be greatly diminished for all of their adult lives as they are forced to pay for yet another massive social entitlement program that will expand the already massive power and size of our bloated Federal government bureaucracy.<\/p>\n

But more than anything else, I am pissed at Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

Let me tell you why.<\/p>\n

Promises, Promises<\/strong><\/p>\n

When they were first introduced to America, Social Security (in 1934) and Medicare (in 1965) started out small and full of promises too – but now they are essentially bankrupt. To keep those once-modest entitlement programs whole America now needs to come up with over $107 trillion – and that number continues to balloon.<\/p>\n

We may be the largest economy in the world, but our GDP is currently only $14 trillion, which really isn’t big enough to put much of a dent in those unfunded obligations.<\/p>\n

Despite those facts, our dear leaders said they passed this massive entitlement program into law because it will actually make things better<\/em> – not just for those who are currently uninsured, but for all<\/em> of us.<\/p>\n

In exchange for nationalizing 17% of our GDP and putting the government in control of our health care, President Obama and his followers tell us that the new law will add 32 million people to the rolls of the insured (whether they want to pay for it or not – under penalty of imprisonment), improve quality of service for everyone, lower prescription drug costs, and eliminate exclusions for people with pre-existing conditions.<\/p>\n

Best of all, this new law is going to do all this while simultaneously reducing premiums<\/a>: by 14 to 20 percent for individuals and small businesses, and $3000 for employers who provide coverage (which will mean raises, naturally, for all us trampled-upon employees.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

But Wait, There’s More!<\/strong><\/p>\n

And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, check this out: Based upon assumptions provided by the bill’s sponsors, the CBO estimated that our new government-run health care bureaucracy is also going to reduce healthcare costs by $140 billion over 10 years and $1.2 trillion over 20 years!<\/p>\n

I know.<\/p>\n

And although Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid drew the line when it came to throwing in a free set of Ginsu steak knives for every American, we still<\/em> get all this for the unbelievably low price of only $950 billion!<\/p>\n

Plus a small shipping and handling fee, of course.<\/p>\n

Oh, and don’t be silly – there is no need to fear rationing of services, despite the lower costs and increased patient loads.<\/p>\n

Heh.<\/p>\n

The truth is, our dear leaders are liars. They are giving us nothing more than another worthless Utopian promise<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The government does nothing efficiently – unless you consider increasing the number of people on their payroll. The government can’t run our schools or the Department of Motor Vehicles competently, and yet we expect them to deliver everything they’ve promised with respect to something infinitely more complex such as health care?<\/p>\n

Who is fooling whom here?<\/p>\n

After all, if this law is so great why is it that most of its provisions don’t take effect until after<\/em> the 2012 elections?<\/p>\n

Change and Hope<\/strong><\/p>\n

Change is what you wanted America, and now change is what you’re going to get.<\/p>\n

You can continue to hope that President Obama’s promises will end up being exactly as advertised.<\/p>\n

You can believe that this feel-good entitlement program will somehow, some way, manage to stay under $1 trillion and that your taxes won’t have to go up. You can trust that there will be no health care rationing, no delays for basic services and, worst of all, no two-bit government bureaucrats who will be forced to make decisions regarding what health care treatments you can and can not have.<\/p>\n

You can also continue to tell yourself that this is going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread despite all the evidence to the contrary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But you and I both know that to do so means you’d only be fooling yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. – Abraham Lincoln I don’t feel so good. 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