Hawaii is dropping the only state universal child health care program in the country just seven months after it launched.
Gov. Linda Lingle's administration cited budget shortfalls and other available health care options for eliminating funding for the program.
Definitely a reason not to have government involved in providing health care--you certainly don't want health care dependent on which way the political wind blows, or on the intake of tax revenue.
What gets me, though, is this complaint, which shows either idiocy or ingenuousness:
A state official said families were dropping private coverage so their children would be eligible for the subsidized plan.
"People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free," said Dr. Kenny Fink, the administrator for Med-QUEST at the Department of Human Services. "I don't believe that was the intent of the program."
How could anyone think that wouldn't happen? Given a choice between paying for something out of pocket or having your fellow citizens pay for it indirectly through taxes, I'm sure most people would opt to keep money in their own pocket--especially since they're going to pay the taxes anyway.
Who was it who said that democracy can last only as long as people don't figure out they can vote themselves money from the public treasury? Yes, that Founder. He was right, I fear.
2 comments:
I am just afraid that, this time, too many people have been fooled into thinking that they can vote themselves money from the public treaury.
And that's exactly what will happen on a national scale if Obama's plan goes through. Employers that currently offer coverage will drop that and employees will be forced to go under the government plan. After raising the corporate and windfall profit taxes to ever higher levels, it may be one of the few options to keep the doors open for some businesses.
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