Beware of the wolf in sheep’s clothing!

Today a new wrinkle was added to the Medicaid/Healthcare Exchange debate. Governor Beebe returned from Washington DC with another exemption for the implementation of HCE’s in Arkansas. One of the carrots offered to the states was a certain level of flexibility in how HCE’s would be established, funded and administered by the states. After meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius it appears Arkansas has permission to fund Medicaid expansion through HCE’s. In other words instead of funding Medicaid expansion directly the federal government would allow Arkansas to pay for Insurance coverage which would then pay for the Medicaid coverage. It does not take a rocket scientist to realize this method would cost more to implement and as a result cover fewer people. But I digress; let me predict that before this is all over many of our elected representatives will go over to the dark side and support HCE’s. In an effort to prevent this from happening let’s take a little trip down memory lane on the road to implementing the PPACA aka Obamacare.

Point One – Should the government provide taxpayer funded healthcare?

While there are varying perspectives on this fundamental question the answer is also fundamental. All of our law from our Declaration of Independence to the US Constitution is based on Natural Law. John Locke was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Locke established that private property is absolutely essential for liberty: “every Man has a Property in his own Person. This no Body has any Right to but himself.” Anybody who thinks he or she has a right to health care must also explain why everybody doesn’t have a “right” to a new car or house or anything else a person may want.

John Locke also explained you have a right to liberty, meaning the government cannot conscript you and force you to do things you don’t want to do as long as you are not harming others. You have a right to your personal property, which means the government and others cannot take your property from you without consent. Anybody who thinks he or she has a right to health care must explain how he or she is going to pursue that “right.” Can you force somebody else to provide health care for you? Can you go to your neighbor’s house and steal money from them to pay for your new found “right?” So the answer is; No the government has no right to provide health care for anyone nor does anyone have the right to demand it. Unfortunately government has chosen to expand its authority far beyond the scope its founders envisioned under the guise of doing a “good” thing for the people.

(More to follow)

Point Two – Should the government “fix” the Healthcare System?