The National Health Care Debate

Now that President Barack Obama has placed this nation into debt far greater than any other president before him, it appears per his campaign rhetoric and positions that the institution of a National Health Care Plan and/or universal health care will be primary on his agenda.

In fact, within the stimulus package itself were several hundred billion to place aside in order to fund this massive program, along with the sums needed for the Constitution violating provision in the bill for initiating and establishing a national health care database in order to track and log all American citizens health care treatments and other personal information to be monitored by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Such a basic violation of American's civil liberties and rights under the Constitution apparently was not taken into consideration by either the Congressional members, Mr. Obama or their legal advisors prior to this bill now being signed into law.

While I agree that health care reform is desperately needed in this country, having the government involved in my health care issues and treatment is not something I relish, nor do I believe also a majority of U.S. citizens will when the reality does not meet their expectations, and this governmental intrusion becomes apparent.

The federal government has progressively used the Social Security program for its own ends, and I foresee that universal health care would most likely go down the same path as Social Security, namely merely another unaccountable source of revenue for the feds to tap into at will for whatever creative definition they can use. The Social Security system itself is not a function of government under their enumerated powers and is and was a socialistic concept to begin with. It is plain to see how well that program has fared under Washington's guidance. So would go the way of any such health care program, in my opinion and many Americans.

Under this program as stated during the campaign, Americans would be mandated to provide health care also for their children by law. Government acting as parent of the citizenry once again in parenting the parents. This is government as parent not as the protector of liberties the founders created. Especially mandating the expense of maintaining an insurance policy for a portion of the population that by and large has less need for health care overall.

Children rarely require the degree of health care in proportion to the elderly and middle aged, and the choice of whether to self insure in any respect should be the citizens, and also the degree of health care they deem appropriate since religious beliefs also factor in some instances.

What is needed is reform of our health care system and the solution again is right in front of their eyes. It is a reversal of prior legislation that has resulted in the mess we now find ourselves in, and negligence again of the federal and state governments to actually perform their enumerated duties per the powers given within the federal and state constitutions to regulate some of the out of control national and global insurers doing business in this country without oversight.

The federal and state governments have maintained a "hands off" attitude with respect to any regulation in the interests of "free markets" over these conglomerates, who also have branched out into other financial service industries, and have simply left it to the courts with respect to the insurance industries ongoing failures to live up to their policies, or the practices of the health care networks which sprung up during the Nixon Administration. Corporatized medicine's genesis started under Nixon, and now is an industry whose bottom line "for profit" policies with respect to medical care egregiously have compromised the lives of Americans.

It is time, once again, for our federal government to undertake its primary functions in protection of the citizenry and not corporate profits in the name of "free markets." The "free market" concept has been ill defined and misconstrued. The "free market" allows for freedom of innovation, creativity and trade, but not at the cost of American lives or economic decline in favor of commerce, foreign expansion or interests.

Boards of Directors of these health care networks are now dictating to doctors the level and amount of care that patients can now receive, along with those insurers and have railroaded their way in-between the doctor/patient relationship.

Once the government again got itself involved under Nixon with the HMO and "network" concept the level of health care in this country began its downward spiral. These corporate medical care providers became the rule rather than the exception due to the fact that so many doctors were being forced to leave private practice because of the removal of the treble damages lids for medical malpractice claims which were initiated by the Trial Lawyers Association for their benefits due to their massive lobbying efforts.

Soon, doctors were abandoning surgical and obstetrical procedures because the costs of medical malpractice insurance became unaffordable. Consequently, it became more attractive for doctors then to become employees of these networks and HMOs which could spread the liability risk for their own survival. The doctor/patient relationship thus has also suffered in the process and Boards of Directors are determining the level and degree of patient care more and more.

Corporatizing medicine and affording national and global insurers who have now even been afforded Bill of Rights privileges and immunities far greater than the citizenry in legislation at both the national and state levels is the problem, and given those privileges and immunities without any real recourse for the American public without oversight and accountability other than through our bureaucratic court system.

Thank an unconstitutional Supreme Court way back when for creating another party to our Constitution that the founder's never, ever intended - "corporate personhood" whose influence now far exceeds that of the people at every level.

In fact, the founders hated corporate dominance, and fought that original war to break free from the influence of the East India Company over their former sovereign, and now we are in worse shape than those patriots ever were due to this Constitutional violation.

The costs to address an action through the court system is one in which now 2/3rds the citizenry cannot afford. Thus, even the recourse for "contractual" issues is out of reach.

The fact that these insurers and lawyers have such massive profits to engage in such lobbying efforts speaks volumes in how the American public is being victimized by this situation.

Congress and progressive administrations created this problem as they have so many others and now intend to "fix" it by taking it over and compounding the problem and bureaucracy in now a partnership with the insurers? Based on history alone, that does not bode well for either the future of health care, or the lives of the American people who would be funding this effort.

Another instance of creating a problem, and only wishing now to throw money at it and complicate, rather than cure, its original Constitutional faux pas.

What we need is true "reform" and the reversal of the lobbyists influence and governmental negligence which got us where we are today. Oversight, and reversal of the Nixon, Bush, Clinton and Bush II policies granting corporate welfare again at the American public's expense in the mass produced medicine we have today, and unaccountable insurers who are deciding who lives and dies in this country due to their power without any oversight or accountability and which our government has let go on far, far too long.

http://www.backupamerica.org/