Unless you live in a cave (and if you're reading this from a cave, I would really like the name of your ISP), you know that the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act yesterday. The gist is that all Americans need to have health insurance. I knew what my own reaction would be to this decision. I did not know what my reaction to other people's reactions would be.
I found myself understanding the "fiscally conservative" argument: that this country can't afford to provide healthcare for every one who needs it but can't pay for it. I don't agree with that. I believe that we're paying for it now. A doctor cannot turn away someone at the ER because they don't have health insurance. Therefore, the cost of emergency care is spread across the people who actually are paying the bills. If we're paying for their health care in the first place, I would much rather pay for preventative care than emergency care. $1000 for getting your mole removed doesn't make my wallet cry as much as $50,000 for your chemo treatment for skin cancer. So, while I don't agree with the fiscally conservative argument, if you don't believe anything I just said, I get why you are worried about the cost of the ACA.
What I do not understand is the argument that "the government is taking our rights away". Wouldn't that be government taking away access to health care? You do know that health care is a good thing, right? Like it's something that you want if you don't have. Even if you characterize the ACA as forcing someone to have health care...what exactly is wrong with that? Practically speaking, it's not like these people are going to pay the tax penalty if they can't afford healthcare. Poverty level Americans don't file taxes anyway. Is the IRS really going to chase people down when they don't have any money? No, they're going after the Willie Nelsons and Wesley Snipes of the world. That's where the cash is! But, there needs to be some mechanism in place to make sure that people don't take advantage of ACA. If people are allowed to just not have any health care, we're right back where we started in paying for everyone's ER costs. Then, really what's the point?
Of course these "damn big government forcing me to buy something" soap-boxers are the same people that are threatening to move to Canada because the US is upholding "socialized medicine". So, you know...how rational are they to begin with?
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