The Obama administration this week is trumpeting the six-month mark of their foray into taking over nearly 20-percent of the Gross National Product.
The anger I felt in March after the passage of the Health Care Reform Act has subsided a bit. I now look on it with the inevitability usually reserved for ninth-inning collapses by the Tigers' bullpen, head-scratching losses for the Hokies, and Charlie and Hannah doing something that requires a painful loss of my time, money, and/or energy.
Still, it's worth noting which Health Care provisions are kicking in right now and what they represent for small businesses---not to mention the very idea of a free market economy.
As of today, it is now illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage to children based on pre-existing conditions. Sounds great, right? How DARE those companies deny coverage to little children with brain tumors!!! Other provisions prevent lifetime caps on coverage, and allow slackers to sponge off of Mom and Dad's insurance until they are 26 years old!
There's a reason insurance companies have operated the way they have in the past. They lose boatloads of money if they run things like the government is mandating. If you're confused, google "ECON 101."
The insurance companies will, of course, abide by the law. They'll open up coverage to untold numbers of minors with all kinds of ailments. They'll let deadbeat 20-somethings leech off their parents a little longer. They'll also lose lots of money. Since the insurance companies are not in the non-profit sector, they will be forced to find a way to make up for this staggering loss. Any guesses as to how they'll do that?
What will follow will make the premium increases we've seen the past couple of years look like chump change. Health insurance costs will skyrocket. What happens then? Big-government advocates will demagogue the insurance companies, calling them "greedy, evil," etc. etc. They'll then demand single-payer Health Care, which is Barack Obama's wet dream.
I'm not an ogre. I have no desire to see five-year olds with heart conditions denied medical coverage. But I also don't want an estimated 200,000,000 Americans being forced to submit to The State's whims about their basic health care.
And again, this underscores the liberal notion that all power derives from the government, then flows down to us. Silly me. I was taught that it was the other way around.
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