Thieves and Fools, Part IV

This post is the fourth installment of an ongoing series, entitled : If you think your health care is my responsibility, you are a thief. If you think our health care system would be better if the government would intervene, you're a fool.

The other day I saw a headline proclaiming "Democrats will seek universal mental health, dental care."

At the time I thought: What about people with false teeth?

It sounds goofy, but it raises a significant question. If a "universal health care" plan is adopted providing "free" medical care to all Americans, how do we define "medical care"? What should be included?

Not everyone needs dental care. Some are blessed with fine enough dental health that they need not see a dentist regularly. Others were not blessed with such dental health, and their teeth have fallen out and been replaced by synthetics. "Universal dental care" would charge those in both camps (via taxes) for services that they did not want, need, or pay for when it was their choice.

Many of us get along fine without the services of a psychiatrist. Most don't visit chiropractors regularly. Acupuncture, massage therapy, orthopedics, orthodontics, and a host of other specialties today fall under the realm of ... specialties. Should they be included in the "public option" health care system leftists wish to adopt?

What about alternative medicines? Medical marijuana? Dietary supplements? Nutrition specialists? Personal trainers? Memberships to a fitness center? Hot tubs? Should these be classified as "health-necessary"? Isn't owning a hot tub a right?

Of course the answer is no.

Today two hundred million Americans live individual lives, they make decisions for themselves based on personal preferences and circumstances, they review options and choose their own futures, based on what is available, what they can afford, and what they prefer.

When I have a backache, I don't rush out and see a chiropractor and expect someone else to pay for it. I drink a glass of whiskey. (I don't expect someone else to pay for that, either.) Other people will choose to drink a glass of whiskey, or to take a Tylenol, or to go to a chiropractor. Some go sit in their hot tub -- it all depends on the individual's circumstances and preferences. These folks also don't (and shouldn't) expect someone else to pay for it. Because when someone else starts paying, someone else starts making the choices.

The central ideal here is that health care is a quite personal, individual responsibility. America is a big place with lots of cultures, lots of points of view, lots of people thinking their own choices a are the best. The key is: They are all right. Tylenol, the hot tub, the chiropractor, and whiskey, they all work!

Each person is quite capable of making the best choice for himself, and in many cases a person in Arizona will select differently from a person in Maine. In many cases a 24-year-old single man will make a different choice different from that made by a 49-year-old mother of four. Despite all assurances to the contrary, any government sponsored "universal health care" program will kill that individuality.