July 13, 2009
Thou Shalt Not Mess Up Health Care
Last year, in Arizona, a narrow defeat for Proposition 101, the Freedom of
Choice in Health Care Initiative, didn't leave its core ideas dead, or even
zombie-like.
The measure's defeat by a mere 8,111 votes didn't seem insurmountable. After
all, opponents of the measure had made hysterical claims against it, and the
thinking among supporters quickly became: A little more education.
A few weeks ago, the Arizona legislature repackaged the measure's basic ideas
as the Arizona Health Insurance Reform Amendment and set it for a vote of the
people next November.
The new measure accommodates some worries and criticism of the previous
measure. But the core message remains. The first plank states that “a law or
rule shall not compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer or health
care provider to participate in any health care system.”
The second plank says that no one shall be fined for paying — or accepting
payments — for otherwise lawful health care services.
There are a lot of politicians out there, right now, who insist that “fixing
health care” means “increasing government,” including pushing and shoving
people into plans, or regulating the manner of payments so to encourage the use
of government plans.
If this Arizona measure passes, or similar measures in other states do, a new
idea will enter the national health care debate: Freedom.
This is Common Sense. I'm Paul Jacob.
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Paul Jacob is President of Citizens in Charge and the Citizens in Charge
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The opinions expressed in Common Sense are Paul Jacob's and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Citizens in Charge or the Citizens in Charge Foundation.
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