Monday, March 29, 2010

Health Care Bill Passed

I have waited several weeks before attempting to put words to paper. If you are still with me so far you will have read the articles I wrote attempting to suggest what I thought should be in the bill. I pretty much struck out.
There are high sounding words abounding with praise from the one side and derision from the other side. As for me, I hope that the Supreme Court, upon examination will find that the Federal Government has overstepped its Constitutional authority by demanding that everyone must buy health insurance. This is by far the worst aspect of the legislation. Like everyone else who mentions this I have to state up front that I am not a lawyer but common sense tells me that the founders of our country never had it in their minds that the government should have this much authority over the lives of the people. The power of the Federal Government was intended to be limited in scope and all else the responsibility of State Governments. It has been reported that 18,000 IRS agents will be hired to monitor compliance of citizens and those found guilty were to be fined a hefty sum to get their attention. If we were hiring agents to collect taxes owed by those who deliberately cheat the system, then I would say hooray, but not this.
The unseemly deals cut to purchase votes were smarmy at best and irresponsible at worst. Those involved should suffer defeat at the next opportunity for people to vote. The health insurance industry won out as I had predicted. These millions of forced new customers, most of whom are young and in good health will be a profit boon to the industry. Many of these people are college graduates struggling to find employment in their chosen fields and saddled with debt accumulated to graduate. They will have little to show for their years of dedicated learning and will be forced to put off purchases and improvements in their lives with these costs to contend with.
Depending on the ever changing definition of poverty, those individuals or families will automatically receive free health care thru Medicaid. My question knowing the devastation that can be wrought by illness, why would these people ever strive to rise above the poverty level? The few dollars of additional income would not be worth it if they lost free care. This is just something to think about.
The heavy burden to pay for all this will fall on those who thru skill and effort have reached the upper levels of the middle class. While I am always willing to make sure the very rich pay their fair share, I consider this a disincentive for striving to excel. What do you think?

Another topic not related to health care is the legislation that has already passed the House and is waiting for Senate approval. This is the Cap and Trade Energy bill. Within a year after passage you will not be able to sell your home unless it has been inspected to assure it complies with the ever changing energy and water efficiency standards. I have seen estimates that an average cost could be $6,000. I bet you didn’t know about this. You just assumed as I did that the intention was to provide incentive for industry to improve. Once again the Federal Government is taking control over the lives of every day citizens. If this also passes in my opinion the light of freedom in America is fading rapidly.


Jack B. Walters
3961 N. Hillwood Circle
Tucson, AZ 85750
(520) 722-2958
March 29, 2010
jackbwalters@yahoo.com

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