A Political Christmas Wish for America

I am tired of the assault the federal government has perpetuated on the people they are sworn to serve. The latest assault Obamacare, is the most dangerous assault in my lifetime. This healthcare takeover is not only unconstitutional (no matter what tortured logic John Roberts used to uphold it), it will cause the death of an unknown number of Americans. It is why I am praying hard for the following:

·         I pray that we begin to see the fallacy that a government of the people, by the people, for the people can succeed without the moral foundation of a belief in God.

·         I pray Americans wake up to the radical left wing that has taken over the former Democratic Party, and vote to elect constitutional supporters in the next election.

·         I pray for all of the victims of Obamacare that have lost their insurance while fighting life threatening diseases. That their stories will end the federal government’s takeover of healthcare. And mostly they find an alternative to continue to successfully fight their diseases.

·         I pray that the State convention process under Article V of the constitution takes hold and passes term limits as its first successful amendment.

·         I pray that every young adult is awakened to the assault on their future opportunity which is being destroyed by an out of control federal government - spending and borrowing away their future.

·         I pray that the military and intelligence agencies are not as aloof as our president when it comes to monitoring and stopping terrorists. And they stop spying on Americans because it is the right thing to do.

·         I pray for the end of poverty by reducing government programs that remove incentives to be self-reliant.

·         I pray that the capitalist system takes the Obamacare disaster and creates a better more efficient and compassionate alternative to healthcare.

·         I pray that Americans wake up and realize politics does matter and that they have a direct role in ensuring a bright future for their children. And they do their due diligence on candidates and don’t simply vote party lines.

·         And finally, I pray the president and democrats are overwhelmed by the response of the American people and stop their assault on American tradition and values.

Merry Christmas! I pray that you and your family have health and happiness during this Christmas season and throughout your lifetime…

Healthcare is NOT a Right…

Rights are inherent and are common to all human beings. There are only God given rights, rights cannot be granted by government, but they can be taken away. When people talk about healthcare being a “right” the first question we must ask is: if healthcare is a right, then the people providing healthcare are slaves. Otherwise, it can’t be a right. If a doctor or nurse is needed to provide healthcare then they can’t be forced to provide the service of healthcare.

People use the term “rights” in a way that riles up crowds of malcontents who have been persuaded they deserve something for nothing. You could call that leftism, modern liberalism, communism, or socialism, you choose. The reality is we only have a few true rights as human beings. I believe those to be, freedom to move, freedom to believe or not, freedom to speak, right to our labor, right to private property, right to privacy, right to be left alone, and the right to contract with others. Every one of those rights has one thing in common; they don’t rely on anyone else or expect something from anyone else.

Words mean things. When we use terms in society and politics it is important to use the proper terms. It is why the US Constitution was so brilliant. Just because healthcare is not a right, doesn’t mean it isn’t important. It doesn’t mean as a society we shouldn’t develop policies that help everyone to have access to good healthcare. We should use the same principles in healthcare as we do in other markets like the food industry where the growth and distribution have been able to feed the entire world. You can argue that food is just as important as healthcare. So why do we treat the distribution differently from the government perspective?

The federal government is not allowed to constitutionally do what it is doing in healthcare but it is because too many people are constitutionally illiterate, and we have a Supreme Court that has shunned its responsibility to protect it. We would be better off if we cut the funding for the federal government in half by going to a flat tax and eliminating the IRS, the Department of Education, Commerce, Energy, and Housing. That would leave plenty of money to provide for the poor and truly needy. At the state level we could decide what else we are willing to pay for as citizens. This way if we don’t like the policies we can move to another state.

The way things are we have no place to go. The freedom to move is a right that is no longer relevant when the federal government controls things they shouldn’t, like healthcare. Healthcare is not a right but it is too important to leave to an incompetent federal government…  

Dear Politicians: Its Health Care Not Health Insurance, Stupid!

Can we reset this entire healthcare argument to focus on the real issue here? The issue is healthcare not health insurance! This is driving me nuts. We don’t go to the insurance company to diagnose our runny nose do we? We don’t ask some insurance bureaucrat to reset our lower back due to a tweak we have after lifting a box the wrong way, do we? We don’t go to the insurance office to get a prenatal exam during pregnancy, do we? NO we go to the doctor’s office.

We have been so programmed to deal with insurance companies for healthcare issues that we can’t see the forest through the trees. We should be dealing directly with our doctor to set up our appointments and make payments according to the services provided. Instead we are calling insurance companies to discuss co-pays and coverage of basic services that actually are already affordable.

Now we are on the cusp of adding government bureaucrats into the mix of insurance bureaucrats to get in the way of the relationship between us and our doctor. What are we nuts! The answer is not to empower more useless paper pushing or key banging office people to manage such a simple transaction. Just as you go to the mechanic to fix your car and then you pay the bill, you should be going to the doctor, receive your care, and pay your bill.

The biggest issue that drives the “need” for insurance is the fear of taking ill and needing critical or chronic long term care. The fear of bankruptcy is the biggest driver of insurance. Just like we fear fire and flood destroying our housing investment, in healthcare we fear a heart attack, a cancer diagnosis, or some other illness because if we don’t have insurance it can bankrupt us! What if the issue of going bankrupt from a healthcare issue could be solved? How would that change the complexion of healthcare?

From the service provider side, doctors, nurses, and hospitals fear being sued for mal-practice. They have to carry mal-practice insurance which increases costs and does little for the betterment of healthcare. Actually it has created a “lottery” mentality where any “mistake” is treated as a ticket to Easyville! No doubt there are circumstances where doctors or hospitals are negligent, but lawyers have made an industry of suing doctors for every issue just to get in front of an ignorant jury that award large paydays. Most of the time these frivolous lawsuits are settled to reduce the time and effort it takes to fight the lawsuits. The way to fix it is to have jurists that understand medicine instead of the normal jury process. A “jury of your peers” in healthcare are people that understand healthcare, and I’m not suggesting this to put the fix in for doctors, but to put people on the jury that understand the complex arguments that we just are not educated to understand. It also would reduce the emotional component of “regular” jurists that end up awarding ridiculous amounts for things that are not malpractice. As healthcare professionals know, there is inherent risk in certain procedures. If we don’t address this doctors will stop doing surgeries that have any risk and who benefits from that? What if mal-practice lawsuits were changed? How would that change the complexion of healthcare?

Eliminating insurance from preventative care, removing the fear of bankruptcy due to an illness, and mal-practice reform would be three steps that would change the face of healthcare for the better. If we did those three simple things to start we could then look at the market and see what other issues we could improve through free market principles.

The debate about healthcare should not be dominated by insurance but rather the improved delivery and management of healthcare. Oh and the biggest change of all: get politicians out of our doctor’s office!

A Disaster So Easy to See

“If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until it’s free!” Ronald Reagan. In all his wisdom, Ronald Reagan would never suggest he was a man of exceptional intellect. He just used common sense. Albert Einstein never considered himself a genius; he simply was determined to use his God given gifts of intelligent exploration. We are all geniuses in our own right, but why are so many people blinded to the impending disaster of Obamacare?

Is it simply that people don’t want to believe their government could be so incompetent? Do they dis-trust the private sector economy so much that the government seems to be a better choice with something as precious as healthcare? Do people not care? Are people too busy? There are probably many reasons why people are not willing to see this tragedy ahead for our healthcare, freedom, and country, but you don’t need to be a genius to predict the results.

A simple look at history will give you all the reasons you need to be scared to death of centralized government. Especially centralized governments that say they have your best interests at their core. Ask the millions of people slaughtered by Stalin’s government. Oh wait, you can’t. Ask the millions of people killed by Pol Pot in Cambodia. Oh wait you can’t. Ask the millions of people killed by Mao Ze-Dong of China. Oh wait you can’t. And the list goes on. What do they all have in common? They all promised to “take care of the people” from some evil force or something. How could millions of people be fooled to support a government that so obviously has no capacity to take care of anything? What they also have in common is the belief that the “community” is more important than the individual.

Our US Constitution protects the individual from the government. We are an anomaly in the history of the world. The fact that our government is dependent on its power from the people is why we have enjoyed such prosperity and freedom throughout our short history. The fact that the free exchange of goods and services between groups and individuals has been free of government control is why we are successful. It is also why resources are abundant in America unlike the countries that I mentioned above, and the countries that have socialism ( a system that claims to be “fair” to everyone equally) as their government structure, like Cuba.

If we follow the logic of Obamacare, does it look like a system that would be more comfortable in a communist/socialist country? Or in America where we have always believed in the free exchange of goods, services, and ideas between individuals?

Obamacare is about controlling cost, services, access, pricing, and delivery of healthcare. If a program is so good for the people it is supposed to serve, why does the government have to force people to join? Why is the government forcing doctors and hospitals to accept their payment schedules? Why is the government threatening people with fines and liens if this is supposed to be a system that helps the people? Things that are designed to help people don’t need to force people under penalty of law to comply.

A truly effective healthcare system relies on the choices of individuals to utilize the services they believe are best for them. An effective healthcare system starts with doctors and hospitals creating services at a price people need and can afford. Healthcare is no different than shopping around for any other product or service we need. The cost of healthcare should be driven by what people can and are willing to pay without third party assistance. Third party payers are what have been driving up healthcare costs over the years. Costly and tightly controlled Medical Schools, the threat of mal-practice lawsuits, regulations that impede the free exchange of services have all played a role in driving up costs. And in every instance it is either government regulation or third party payers that are impacting costs negatively.

Doctors should get paid fairly for their services; hospitals should operate under their own business models, because in the end they need patients to pay their bills. The healthcare industry like every other industry needs to compete for the individuals business. Then and only then will prices reflect the true value of the service. We need more doctors and hospitals and fewer government programs, IRS agents, and laws that utilize force and coercion.

If we lose sight of the individual over the community, the individual becomes expendable. Group think is responsible for millions upon millions of tragic horror stories throughout history. Don’t believe it can’t happen in America because it will. When demand increases, supply is short, lines are long and doctors are few, who do you want determining whether or not you receive medical treatment, you or some government agent? Under Obamacare you will be expendable and that will be a tragedy.

If healthcare is given the freedom to operate in a free market, demand will level, supply will be abundant, lines will be non-existent, and you and only you will decide what healthcare services you need and want. We have a choice and the choice is clear. Even Albert Einstein and Ronald Regan could make this choice. It doesn’t take a genius…

Attacks on Senator Ted Cruz

The people attacking Ted Cruz are foolish. The simple matter of fact is he is simply bringing attention to an issue that the American people are very concerned about, Obamacare. Obamacare is a disaster that will continue to have negative ramifications and may cause the collapse of the most powerful economy in the world.

You might expect democrats and the left to be on the attack because they are the ones responsible for voting for this destructive law, but republicans seem more animated about Ted Cruz than the democrats. In all honesty, there are probably many democrats that are silently praying this train wreck is stopped since it is an albatross around their necks in the next election. Democrats will not campaign on Obamacare because unlike in the 2012 presidential election, when it was still relatively unknown how this law would impact the average voter, today we see the millions of negative stories associated with Obamacare. So for Senator Chuck Schumer to say there was an election already on the merits of Obamacare that is disingenuous. No democrat will campaign on this unless they are in a safe leftist district. So why the republican ire?

The simple answer is that Ted Cruz is upsetting the leadership apple cart. He is forcing the republicans to take a principled stand. And if there is anything the current republican leadership is afraid of is a principled stand. The GOP leadership is all about power just like the democrats. That is also why they demonize the Tea Party. The GOP should be very careful how they treat the Tea Party. They are the reason that the GOP holds the majority in the house and could be the reason they gain the senate. But it may not work out that way in 2014 with the current crop of GOP incumbents.

So the GOP should remember that if their strategy is to win in 2014 they better stop insulting the base of the voters in the GOP. Attacking Senator Cruz is the same as attacking conservatives and Tea Party patriots. The GOP does that at their own peril. The conservative and Tea Party voters are principled and will put primary challengers in place or stay home in 2014. Some things are worth fighting for. Defunding Obamacare is one of those things…

 

Single Payer Will Never Work…

We are now hearing the true intentions of Obamacare as a “single payer” system. What that really means is the government becomes the only “insurer” of healthcare. Ultimately the government becomes a monopoly for approval of services provided, and the payment for those services to medical professionals which are doctors and hospitals.

The reason it can’t work is basic economics. Supply and demand will create two systems: one will be for people that can’t afford to pay out of pocket, and those that are willing to pay out of pocket. I will describe the two systems and you tell me which one is likely to prevail.

Single Payer: Under this system the government becomes the insurer and will decide how much the premium will cost, what health services it will cover, and how much it will pay the provider (doctor/hospital) for the service. There is no competition to the government so premiums will continue to rise whether it is through individuals being forced to pay more or some kind of increased tax to subsidize individuals. The individual will only be able to get healthcare that is covered. This is where the death panels come in. In order to contain skyrocketing costs because now everyone thinks healthcare is “free” (demand increases to unsustainable levels), hip replacements for example, will be subject to a government bureaucrat’s approval. If you are 80 years old in marginal health, do you think the replacement will be approved? Long lines, doctor shortages, and poor care will be the results of this system. Doctors and hospitals will create a separate system in order to make more money.

Free Market Care: This system will develop because of the inefficiency, corruption; wait times, lack of doctors and hospitals, and fundamental collapse of the government single payer system. Doctors and hospitals will limit the care they provide to the government system or completely drop out of the single payer system, and start an all cash system. This system will work on all of the free market system principles and thrive. People that can afford to pay will pay out of pocket. They will get excellent care, short wait times, and will get any service based on their willingness to pay. Doctors and hospitals will charge what the market, (people willing to pay a price) keeping them incentivized to provide the service. This is the same principle every business works under in a free market system. This is the system we should be embracing now but we have too many people that think the government is a good alternative, especially leftists.

There will be some attempts by the government to make laws that force doctors to provide service to their patients, and laws that make it illegal to set up private practices, but this will create a revolution of types and most likely will be termed slavery, therefore unconstitutional.

“Single Payer” is code for government controlled, socialist healthcare. The healthcare system can’t sustain itself with the government in control. It will destroy itself under the weight of incompetence. We already have every entitlement the federal government controls now on a path to bankruptcy. Taking on healthcare will exponentially reduce the time it takes to get there…

Freedom’s Line in the Sand

We often make political arguments way too complex. The latest assault on religious institutions is just a symptom of the bigger problem of an unconstitutional president in the White House. He passed Obamacare for a couple of fundamental reasons; expand federal government; control the behavior of Americans; and to limit our freedom.

We need to look at every change this administration is making as an assault on every American’s liberty. We are in a fight to save this country and Obamacare is the foundation of our enemies attack. By using healthcare as a foundation to intrude in our lives, this administration positions every argument to steal our freedom as a benefit to our lives. The government now has an argument to get involved anywhere they choose based on the argument it is good for our health.

In the fight against obesity, the federal government can say since they are paying for healthcare they have a say in what we eat. In the fight against cancer, the federal government can outlaw foods, manufacturing processes, technology etc… in order to prevent cancer. In the fight to protect drivers from accidents, the federal government can outlaw any behavior in a car that distracts drivers and may cause accidents. The intentions are all noble in their mind. But where has freedom gone in the argument?

This country is built on individual liberty. If we had these asinine laws at the founding of our country we would never have survived or have been born as a nation. We are free to choose and we must accept the consequences. We can’t prevent every ill in society. We must be free to determine our lives pursuits without the intervention of faceless bureaucrats. If someone dies because they jump off a 10 story building the answer isn’t to stop building 10 story buildings. If someone dies because they have drank themselves to death, the answer isn’t to ban alcohol from everyone because of one individual.

We have allowed these liberal doo gooders’ noses under the tent of freedom and you see what we get. They can’t help themselves to continually look for ways to “help” us. NO THANK YOU! The founders knew this and it is why we have a constitution whose sole purpose is to LIMIT the federal government. The purpose was not to protect us from ourselves but to protect us from these do gooder liberals and tyrants. Often the same ilk. We don’t need a nanny watching over us. Take some damn responsibility people. They are stealing our freedom.

So I applaud the Catholic Bishops in standing up against this assault on religious liberty but it is even bigger than that. It is the essence of America we are fighting for. Liberty in all aspects of our lives not just religious liberty. We have already given up too much ground. The line in the sand has been drawn with Obamacare and it must be repealed in total. Otherwise we will be fighting against the Obamas of the world for the rest of our lives. We can’t allow this to stand. For God’s sake man do it for the children!