The True Cost of Universal Health-Care

“Alex Silva remembers the day well. He was a pack-a-day smoker… when his boss told him the news: CFI Westgate Resort employees… would be prohibited from smoking – not just on the job or on Westgate property, but anywhere, anytime.” (Harry Wessel, The Orlando Sentinel, published in the Kokomo Tribune, 1/3/08, p. A1) The reasoning behind the CFI decision is simple: “Employers are saying they can no longer afford to subsidize bad behavior.” The article cites that 50 to 70 percent of health-care costs are predicated on bad behavior.

So what do Americans think will happen if “universal” (meaning taxpayer funded) health-care is implemented? It will not be business digging into our personal behavior choices; it will be government. Facing huge “universal” health-care costs, government will have no choice but to force behavioral change on the entire population. And don’t think that tobacco use will be the only target: think trans-fats; think soft drinks; think any behavior that increases health-care costs. (For instance, see what coercive legislation The Center for Science in the Public Interest lobbyists already propose).

You may think that I’m over the top here, but I assure you I am not. I will most assuredly be one of those who will propose such bans to his/her elected officials. If I must be forced into socialism, then you can be certain that I will be a good socialist. If a government is given the “right” to pick my pocket for “universal” health-care, then it also has the “right” to coercively force behavioral changes in order to contain health-care costs.

The true cost for “universal” health-care is an erosion of our personal liberties – perhaps a faster erosion than we have ever experienced. The emotionalism of health-care for everyone sounds oh-so compassionate. But let us consider completely the true cost of state-sponsored, collectivist economic planning before deciding. If making your own personal lifestyle decisions is not important to you, then maybe “universal” health-care is just what the doctor ordered.

Sanctity of Life 2008

This year is the 35th anniversary of the Roe v Wade and Doe v Bolton decisions that mark the legalization of abortion in America. One logical consequence of these bad Supreme Court decisions is that a new industry would be spawned. That, indeed, has become the case as the abortion industry, led by Planned Parenthood, swelled during these 35 years. Imagine running a business that seeks to profit from the killing of one of the most defenseless members of our civilization – a child in the womb. Not only does abortion centers like Planned Parenthood intend to profit from this “service,” they also happily welcome tax revenue confiscated from the American public who is provided absolutely no choice when their hard-earned public funds are sought by these merchants of death.

Ironically, Planned Parenthood leadership and pro-abortion politicians are fond of calling articles like mine and those who gather and pray at abortion centers “extremist.” This is their language that frequently turns up in editorials and opinion columns. They are the ones killing babies, but we’re the extremists. I don’t get it.

So for anyone who wants to engage in the “extremist” act of opposing abortion and supporting life, here are a couple of website resources to get you going: Be a Voice (an outreach of Focus on the Family) and the American Life League (an outreach of the Catholic Church). Both provide some sobering facts about abortion, euthanasia, and other goals of the culture of death. Both provide some useful resources that anyone can use to oppose these debilitating atrocities.

http://www.heartlink.org/beavoice

http://www.all.org/

Above all, pray that the Spirit of our dear Lord will convict those engaging in these atrocities of their sin and cause them to turn to our precious Savior in repentance.