Moral Compass
by digby
I don’t even know what to say about this:
The National Right to Life Committee, which opposes abortion rights, on Monday criticized President Obama’s proposal to give the federal government new authority to review and potentially block premium increases by private health insurers.
Mr. Obama included the proposal in his version of a comprehensive health care overhaul unveiled by the White House on Monday. Officials said it would protect consumers from unjustified rate hikes, particularly in cases where state regulators fail or refuse to act.
In its statement, the National Right to Life committee said that the president’s proposal “limits rights of Americans of all ages to use their own money to save their own lives.”
Burke Balch, the director of the National Right to Life Committee’s Powell Center of Ethics, likened the president’s plan to imposing a limit on the cost of restaurant meals.
“It is as though a government, concerned about the high cost of restaurant food, imposed a price limit of $5 per meal, and then asserted that for those who like their restaurant food, nothing will force them to change their eating habits,” the statement said. “The reality, of course, is that restaurants would be unable to afford to offer meals at prices below the cost of their ingredients. Consequently, about all restaurant-goers would be able to get would be fast food.”
The statement continued, “Similarly, when every premium increase is subject to veto by government officials, it means that instead of Americans making their own choices balancing the cost against the benefit in evaluating competing insurance plans, that decision will be taken out of their hands by bureaucrats whose principal duty is to hold health care spending down. Denial of lifesaving diagnostic tests and treatment would surely follow. This is rationing, pure and simple.”
Yes, indeed. We must do everything possible to protect individual liberty and freedom of choice. No systems should ever be put in place by the government which could possibly result in people’s options being restricted. Welll … unless you happen to be a woman, in which case government bureaucrats are morally required to pass laws which force you to undergo pregnancy and childbirth regardless of your wishes in the matter.
But, that one teensy, unimportant impediment to our libertarian paradise excepted, we should thank the Good Lord that these defenders of freedom are here ensure that the government never interferes with the price structure of a Big Mac or forces an insurance company to settle for something less than a 50% profit margin. Don’t tread on me, bitchuz.
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