The illogical hypocrisy of the right never ceases to confuse me. You’d think I’d learn by now but I just don’t understand it.
The people that are calling Sandra Fluke horrible names because they ‘don’t want to pay for her birth control’ are the same people up in arms because The President says everyone should pay their own health insurance premiums. They scream that women should be responsible for paying for their own birth control (even if they have insurance) at the same time they are fighting for their right to not have health insurance and make the rest of us pay for their health care.
The difference between Health Insurance and all of the other things being bandied about in the Supreme Court are the catastrophic costs associated with not having insurance. The government can’t make you buy broccoli, cars or even burial insurance because without them you’re not costing the government millions of dollars.
The broccoli/food argument is interesting because out in The Market insurance companies can in fact charge you more money for insurance if you aren’t living a healthy lifestyle. Everyone will be in this market and their choices affect their eventual healthcare, however, there are ample options in the marketplace for everyone to buy the food of their choice at reasonable prices.
Justice Alito brought up burial services because like healthcare everyone will be in this market eventually but that argument doesn’t hold up. If you die poor and the government pays for your burial it costs them a few hundred dollars exactly once.
A better argument is auto insurance. No one knows ahead of time if a car accident is going to cost $40 in touch up paint or millions in property damage and health care costs and that’s why we have to have it. Without healthcare every single American has the potential of costing the government and thereby other citizens exorbitant amounts of money over and over and over again.
The logical argument is that like choosing to drive a car, everyone should have to choose between healthcare and no healthcare. If you choose not to have healthcare, then don’t go to emergency rooms or doctor’s offices unless you can afford to pay the going rate. Obviously this is a terrible idea but it seems to be where the right wants to go.
The Obama administration chose The Mandate because it’s a solution that involves the free market where people have options. The only other solution to making sure everyone in America has access to the healthcare they need is a single payer option, crushing the market and making the government pay for everything. Imagine what the GOP would have thought of that?!?