Health insurance companies failed to stand up for capitalism

Health insurance companies failed to stand up for capitalism. (my latest column)

Republicans in Congress have introduced legislation to repeal the government takeover of health care

Republicans in Congress have introduced legislation to repeal the government takeover of the American health care industry.   This is exactly the right approach.  Socialist health care cannot be 'reformed' or 'fixed.'  If any part of the law were to remain in tact, it would suggest that Republicans agree philosophically with Democrats that certain industries ought to be run by the government.  That would be a disaster politically as well as philosophically.  Millions of Americans know that the US Constitution does not grant Congress the power to force Americans to buy insurance, to run insurance companies, or to force employers to offer coverage.  Americans will reward Republicans for standing opposed to socialist health care and insisting that health care is a private matter left up to millions of patients and the doctors who serve them. 

The socialist health care law must be abolished completely, and only then, after the bad law has been repealed, is it possible to write new legislation that enables citizens to buy insurance across state lines, remove health insurance mandates that result in higher prices, institute tort reform, expand health savings accounts, and remove the employer tax subsidy so that consumers have the incentive to purchase health insurance on their own.

Democrats nationalize health care industry

Democrats voted to nationalize the health care industry in America on Saturday, and today, Obama signed the unconstitutional bill into law.  Americans, we will not let this legislation remain on the books.  Americans know that this legislation hands over more and more power to the federal government -- instead of in the hands of millions of market participants deciding what is in their best interest.  Democrats do not believe in freedom.  They do not believe in the US Constitution.  It is time to wake up and elect principled conservative Republicans in 2010 and 2010 to contain this agenda and reverse it.

Isn't it obvious: Democrats do hate America!

When we started this blog, a lot of people thought the idea that Democrats hate America was ludicrous.  But we knew that Democrats have contempt for America, its institutions, its Founders, and our Constitution. 

Is there any doubt now that Democrats hate America?  We are now at a point in time in which Democrats in the House of Representatives do not want to even vote on their own disastrous health care bill. 

Instead, they just want to have their legislation deemed passed if the Senate "fixes" the unpopular parts of the bill; this is unconstitutional as it is an attempt to evade the constitutional requirement that our elected officials have an up or down vote on identical legislation in each chamber, as the Constitution requires.  Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution, however, states that for any bill to beome law "the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by the yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively."  

Instead, the Democrats hope to pass the health care destruction bill through the "Slaughterhouse" rule, whereby the House votes to "deem" that it approves of the Senate health care bill only on the contingency that the "fixes" to the bill are made by the Senate.  It is a complicated, convoluted, and unconstitutional method of trying to pass a bill that is already unconstitutional for many other reasons.

Why do the Democrats hate the US Constitution?  The main reason is because the Constitution is a constraint on government power, and hence, a restraint on their insatiable appetite to control the lives of individual Americans.  Thankfully, the US Constitution does provide us with one solution: vote against every Democrat on the ballot this November.

Government-run health care and education are colossal failures.

Government-run health care and education are colossal failures. From my latest column on Associated Content...

Health insurance companies cannot cover "pre-existing" conditions and stay in business.

Democrats have been rallying against health insurance companies for failing to cover those with "pre-existing" conditions.  However, it is common for insurance companies of all stripes to deny coverage for a condition after it has already happened.  To take one example: fire insurance.  You can't get fire insurance after a fire has taken place.  If a fire insurance company had to issue insurance after a fire, no one would pay fire insurance premiums until after a fire, and hence, the insurance company would only receive premiums from those who are already requesting a claim!  The fire insurance company would go out of business quite rapidly.

The same is true when it comes to health insurance.  A health insurance company does not have an unlimited amount of funds.  It receives premiums from customers, who wish to transfer the risk of a catastrophic health care bill to the health insurance company.  If one could receive health insurance after a pre-existing condition, such as an illness or an accident, then there is absolutely no incentive to buy health insurance until after one needs coverage.  That is not the way insurance works, and there is absolutely no justification for changing this standard industry practice.  The only reason to re-write federal and state law to cover pre-existing conditions is to put the health insurance companies out of business and institute single-payer, government-run health care.

United States Postal Services offers us a glimpse into the future.

The United States Postal Services is a government-run monopoly.  As a monopoly, it is the "single" provider of mail service across the nation.  Recently, the USPS has for the authority from Congress to substantially raise their prices, and offer less services, reducing their six-day delivery to five-day delivery.  What, pay more, get less?  That is the nature of how a government-run monopoly operates.  Since the USPS actually prevents competition through the force of law, it is a monopoly that isn't the sole provider because individuals have chosen it over other competitors, but rather because it has the power of brute force by preventing its competitors from competing.  If any competitor started to deliver first-class mail, the federal government would seize the property of that business and have the courts order an immediate halt to that business. 

USPS is a glimpse into the future.

The authoritarian Democrats in Congress want to set up a health care system that would ultimately lead towards a "single payer" government-run health care system.  Single "payer" is another way of saying one government-run, authoritarian, top-down bureaucracy that would decide how all health care dollars are spent within the economy.  It would be command and control.  If you want a certain procedure, the government would have the power to say no to you.  Since the government-run health care system would be the only game in town -- hence the name, "single" payer -- you would be stuck. 

In a market-economy, individuals decide how much they want of something through the price system.  People decide how much of their wealth they are willing to exchange for some good or service.  In a government-run system, the price system is eliminated, and the only party that gets to decide how much of a good or service you can receive is the government.  This would ultimately mean that there would be an unlimited amount of demand on the system, to the point in which the government would have to use brute force to cut costs by denying patients the ability to get care.  This is exactly what we are seeing at the Post Office.  Even while the Post Office is preventing individuals from competing with it, it still is determined to cut services and charge customers more.  That is why Americans do not want ObamaCare and will vote against Democrats for forcing such a system on the people.

Democrats are like rapists: both are impervious to cries of "no!"

Democrats are like rapists:  both are impervious to cries of "no!"  Americans went to Tea Party protests, town hall meetings, wrote to their Members of Congress, elected anti ObamaCare Republican Scott Brown from Massachusetts in a special election, and clearly said "no!" every single time to socialized, authoritarian, government-run health care.  In a recent poll, 56% of Americans oppose Obama's "new" government-run health care plan.  However, neither Obama, nor the Democrats in Congress, care that Americans oppose what they are doing.  The elected Democrats have absolute contempt for public opinion and are willing to impose their will with raw political power, irrespective of the damage that this would do to a private health care system that is the best in the world.

Congress should reject President Obama's Federal Budget for the United States (2011)

Many commentators have noted the outrageous price tag of President Obama's 2011 federal budget.  A lot of commentators have failed to note that any money that is spent for programs, departments, or agencies that are not authorized by the United States Constitution is illegitimate and void.  The purpose of our federal government is to secure our liberty, provide for forums where disagreements among individuals or corporations can be adjudicated, and to otherwise leave men free to pursue their self-interest.  

As the Preamble to the United States Constitution states:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

 Congress should reject President Obama's 2011 budget.  

Congratulations to Republican Sen-elect Scott Brown

Congratulations to Republican Sen-elect Scott Brown of Massachusetts for his election victory, ensuring that he will be the 41st Republican in the United States Senate.  The fact that Massachusetts, which is a solidly Democrat state, voted to send a Republican to the Senate, shows that the people are rising up against the authoritarian Democrats in Congress.  Voters have said no to Democrats by electing Republican Governors in Virginia and New Jersey, and now, by electing a Republican Senator to represent Massachusetts.  


The people of Massachusetts strongly oppose government-run health care. Only 36% of Massachussetts voters supported ObamaCare.  Philosophically, the Democrats' statist objectives run counter to human nature, which is to pursue one's own rational self-interest to find happiness in life.  The Democrats reject the Declaration of Independence statement that the objective of government is to protect "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  Instead, Democrats believe that the objective of government is to control the population through the confiscation of their wealth and through regulations directing them to act in a certain way or face penalties.

Sen-elect Scott Brown ran on a platform opposing government redistribution of wealth masquerading as fiscal "stimulus."  Scott Brown articulated the evil nature of taking the wealth from citizens and redistributing it to other individuals or organizations (i.e., bank bailouts).  He supported private property rights by stating that private Catholic hospitals have the right to manage their own hospital and develop their own policies, without government involvement.   Not surprisingly, Scott Brown opposes a federal government-run health care system, and he will now vote in favor of a filibuster to stop further socialization of our health care industry.

Scott Brown also has shown the folly of global warming and will vote against cap and tax.  The idea of of punishing the producers of energy, with the intention of creating energy shortages, rationing, and price hikes, seems like a suicidal energy policy.  We look forward to seeing Sen-elect Scott Brown being a passionate defender of liberty here in the United States.

Congress should say no to California bailout

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is asking for a "bailout" of California, which faces a deficit of $20 billion, despite raising taxes in 2009.  The federal government should say 'no.'  Providing bailouts to failed states, or failed companies, creates a moral hazard, which makes future mismanagement even more likely in the future since there will be an assumption that there will be future bailouts.  California has increased its rate of government spending far higher than inflation and population growth over the last decade, mainly to enrich the perennially enraged lunatic government employee unions.  California's government needs to go on a diet.  Now.

Democrats pass government-run (socialist) health care through US Senate

The United States Senate voted to turn America into a soft tyranny.  If the health care legislation becomes law, it will set the precedent that Congress, and not individuals acting according to their own self-interest, will decide who gets health care, how much it will cost, whether it will be provided, and who gets excluded.  All of this will be done based upon political calculations.  It is an act of contempt against the American people to believe that 435 Members of the House of Representatives and 100 US Senators can determine what is the "best" health care.    Suffice it to say, we hope Democrats fail in this endeavor.  

Health care is more of an art than a rigid, bureaucratic, follow-the-rules type of occupation.  The reason why patients choose some doctors over others is precisely because people assume (quite rightly) that certain doctors follow practices that are superior over other doctors.  Some doctors have more experience, talent, insight, education, or are just plain more pleasant to work with.

Health care is so complicated that one person is not able to understand all of the variables that exist within this profession.  What might appear "unnecessary" due to the high cost may be a very useful if it saves one's life.   What Congress is trying to do is ensure that everyone receives equal health care.  That is not possible in the real world.  As a result, the most that can be attained is to ruin everyone's health care through providing disincentives for doctors to provide the absolute best treatment, by subsidizing medical treatment (which will increase demand on doctors who are already overwhelmed through existing government mandates and programs), and taxing every aspect of the country, to the point in which the country will be a lot poorer.

Exceptional undergraduate students who might otherwise consider the medical profession will give up on their dreams because they are not interested in subjecting themselves to the whims of bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., who are only concerned about costs, and not about how to achieve actual results for the patient.  When the government agent gets in between a doctor and his patient, nothing good can come from this.  Why have we done this to ourselves?

Well, the answer is simple:  Democrats truly do have contempt and despise the America that we love.  This legislation is part of an effort to destroy what is special and exceptional about America.  Thankfully, we have the opportunity to fire these Democrats in November of 2010.

Barack Obama, in his own words, said that the Democrat Party has "similarly zealotry" as Republicans -- but just can't "enshrine some of [our] more radical ideas into law"

Candidate Barack Obama said "there are those within the Democratic Party who tend toward similar zealotry.  But those who do have never come close to possessing the power of a Rove or a DeLay, the power to take over a party, fill it with loyalists, and enshrine some of their more radical ideas into law."

Until now, that is!

John Kerry supports massive taxation of Americans to redistribute to the Third World -- all in the name of "climate change"

Senator John Kerry supports punishing millions of Americans through "global warming" laws that will increase energy taxes to astronomical levels.  He also supports stealing the wealth from millions of Americans and sending it to the Third World, with the aim of forcing those who live in poor countries to continue to remain in poverty.  Does this sound like someone who loves mankind?  We think it sounds like someone who has contempt for man and man's mind.  Why would anyone impose such disastrous policies if they truly loved America?  John Kerry believes that the geniuses of the world, the ones who create energy intensive industries, which he could not create on his own due to his poor intellect, should be punished precisely because of their success.  It is obvious that John Kerry hates America, and also hates the poor who live in the Third World, too.

Thankfully, there are Americans in Congress who are sensible.  Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla) is traveling to the Coppenhagen conference to let the elitist world leaders know that America is not going to bankrupt itself to fulfill the collectivist fantasies of the world's socialists.

Lisa Jackson, EPA administrator, seeks dictatorial powers.

Lisa Jackson, the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, is threatening Congress to impose cap and trade legislation on the American public.  If Congress choses to listen to its constituents, and decides not to adopt a "cap and trade" law, Ms. Jackson will impose "command and control" regulations on the American economy.  As Ms. Jackson says in her own words:

"If you don't pass this legislation, then . . . the EPA is going to have to regulate in this area," the official said. "And it is not going to be able to regulate on a market-based way, so it's going to have to regulate in a command-and-control way, which will probably generate even more uncertainty."

Who does Ms. Jackson intend to command?  The American public -- especially when Americans are exchanging value for value -- in other words, economic transactions.  Who is Lisa Jackson, anyway?  She is an unelected technocrat that most voters have never heard of of.  But she wants dictatorial powers over the American public.  She is desperate because Congress, which must answer to the American people from time to time, is starting to balk at the outrageous costs and dubious science associated with the climate change hoax.  Tell your Representative that you do not want to give in to threats by a power hungry bureaucrat like Lisa Jackson.