Thoughts on Healthcare
I’ve been quiet of late because, honestly, I’m more than a little disgusted with the state of things and just can’t get my thoughts in a coherent format. Given recent items from Harry Reid, however, I do have a few things to say.
First and foremost, Congress is massively overstepping its bounds with healthcare reform. There is nothing in the Constitution that allows them to do this, but if you ask your average member of Congress, they don’t care. This is one of the grosser violations of the Tenth Amendment, but it’s “for the people” so it’s okay, right?
Like I said, disgusted.
Now let’s move on to Harry Reid’s commentary yesterday that there will be an ‘opt out’ provision for States on the Public Option (or the ‘Competitive’ option as Pelosi apparently trying to rebrand it). On the one hand, you could say this is a win for State sovereignty. Call me cynical, but I don’t see it that way. I see it as nothing more than a political trick. If you put in the ‘opt out’ provision and a State chooses to take it, Congress can then say to everyone in that state, ‘Hey, it’s not our fault! We put it in there, but your State decided they didn’t want it, so it’s all their fault!’
Given that little tidbit, I honestly do not expect any State to exercise the Opt Out option. It’s in there simply as a bone to toss to the Blue Dog Democrats in an attempt to get them on board while still placating the far Left in the Democratic Party that’s screaming they’ll revolt if there isn’t a Public Option included in the Healthcare bill.
Rather than this massive expansion of cost, debt, and power from the Federal Government, I would much rather see them do things that are legitimately within their authority. Let’s start with Tort Reform (loser pays system, perhaps?) and removing barriers to selling insurance across state lines (you know, actually using the Interstate Commerce clause in a legitimate fashion).
At the end of the day, this is simply another unconstitutional expansion of Federal Authority, but the majority of people don’t care because they buy into whatever excuse is needed to keep them from actually thinking.