Irony

Isn't it ironic that our "pro-choice" president wants to remove the federal regulations known as "conscience protections" which protect medical/health care professionals' freedom of choice? The only choice he seems to want to promote is abortion.

These regulations are in place to prevent doctors, nurses and other health care providers from being discriminated against, persecuted, fired or denied promotions based on their refusal to perform actions which violate their conscience. Forcing people to choose between their conscience and their occupational success doesn't sound like freedom to me.

James Madison wrote, "Conscience is the most sacred of all property..."

There is still time to let your opinion be known. You can read more and comment here.

Should I Get That in Writing?

When my husband first mentioned to me that Congress wanted to pass a law taking away 90% of the bonuses paid by AIG, "I thought that won't happen, it's not legal."

Apparently, the majority of the House of Representatives doesn't care about legality. Yesterday, they trampled the constitution by passing legislation taxing 90% of this group of people's income. This is government taking aim at a group of people they don't like and confiscating their money, the income they had contractually earned.

These bonuses were no surprise. The payout of these AIG bonuses were even provided for by Chris Dodd inserting a loophole for "contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009" in the stimulus package. The outrage by Congress is a sham. Now it is evident that contracts and words spoken mean absolutely nothing to Congress and Timothy Geithner.

Who will be the next target of Congress? Who else will be targeted because the government doesn't like them, their income, their job, their political beliefs, their religion? Will you only say something if the target is you? Just because you don't like someone doesn't mean you can punish them at will.

So much for private property and the pursuit of happiness.

Free Health Care?

Everyone wants something for free. Why not? It's free, right? Or is it? Somebody is going to pay. What makes you think it won't be you?

Hawaii tried providing health care for children. It failed. Why? Because those that were buying their own health care stopped doing so in order to get the free health care. Hawaii couldn't afford to pay for every child's health insurance and so had to end the program.

I hear people say Canada has free health care. Norway or Switzerland too. It brings to mind how the ancient Israelites asked for a king "that we may be like all the other nations." They didn't know how good they had it. Samuel warned them what a king would do. A king would take the best of all you have: sons, daughters, servants, land, crops, and livestock. In their desire to be like the other nations, Israel gave up their freedoms. They got their king and they got their wealth and freedom taken as foretold. 1 Samuel 8.

What is the cost?

• Higher taxes.
  Are you ready to bring home 30% of your paycheck? You are already only bringing home roughly 70%. 30% will be less than half of what you bring home now. This is what the other nations do.


• Loss of privacy.
  With government running things, you can bet your privacy will be invaded. Just ask WIC recipients. How much do you eat? How much do you weigh? What is your iron count? How many ounces of juice do you drink? Are you drinking from the proper cup?
  Do you like to be micro-managed? I think I'm a grown-up and can make my own decisions but when you expect government to be your sugar daddy, you give up liberties and decisions to your new parent.


• Lack of choices.
  Who decides which doctor you can see? Which medicines will be best? What treatment to pursue? What about alternative medicines? You? Your doctor? Not if you give government a foothold.


• Medical advances will dwindle.
  What happens to the motivations of scientists and doctors to invest in new medical advances? Who in government is qualified to decide which avenues should be pursued? Which medical breakthroughs will be missed or abandoned?


• Long waits
  Every country that has government run health care has notoriously long waits for procedures. Are we willing to wait 6 months to get a lump examined? What if it's cancerous? Then you may have sacrificed your life. That's not free.


• Morally objectable procedures
  When government pays for health care, they pay for it with taxpayer's money. (Our money, yours and mine) When government then pays for procedures such as abortions, sex changes and assisted suicides, they force a huge percentage of people that find such things morally wrong to participate in them by paying for them. That's not free.
  

This story was shared with me recently. A boy broke his leg. It was a spiral fracture. These are very painful and require more care. At the hospital, the doctor decided to put his leg in a cast even though he thought the leg may require surgery. Sure enough, two weeks later they had to return and have surgery. The belated surgery caused more pain and a longer healing time than if it had been done right away. Why would the doctor not just do the surgery in the first place? This boy is covered by ACCESS. ACCESS is government paid health insurance and the doctors and hospitals first try the less expensive route since they must accept whatever the government will pay.

I've never heard anything good about an HMO. Everyone seems to hate them. Yet people want the government to run their health care system? That is one colossal HMO.