Notes from around the Human Experience…
USA! USA!: The United States Senate has announced it will not vote on its GOP-written health care bill anytime soon. Considering how lousy a bill it was, along with the fact very few liked it, it is reasonable to conclude the bill is dead.
This imbroglio did a good job if illustrating what is wrong with our government.
Leading Off: First, the Obama Administration, admirably in the mood to do some good, enacted the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a plan that, among other things, subsidized health insurance purchases for millions of Americans and obliged every American to have health insurance.
Stop Us If You’ve Heard This Before: This was wrong. The government has no business mandating we buy radishes much less health insurance. It also no business subsidizing businesses.
Listen Up: This has brought on the usual calls by the usual people for the United States to provide and pay for medical care for its citizens. Such a system is generally called a single-payer system.
Get Your Official Daily Dose Policy Right Here: We don’t think this is the answer. One, we need to only take a look at the Veterans Administration to see how badly the government would screw this up. The VA is unable to provide care to a few million people. It is not reasonable to expect our government to provide medical care for over three hundred million people.
Second, it’s not our government’s purpose anyway. The government has no business monopolizing an entire industry. Doctors are professional men and women whose practices are businesses, commercial enterprises existing to make a profit. They must have the same access to the free market that other businesses have. Doctors in competition with one another will be forced to innovate and to offer services people want at prices they want to pay. Citizens will be able to pay for routine doctors visit out of their own pocket and health insurance will be reserved for catastrophic and long-term events, like it was originally intended for.
The Bottom Line: The government does not provide single-payer plumbing or legal services and it should not provide single-payer medical services. We allow the free market to provide food, clothing and roller skates, we must also allow it to provide medical care.
ON THIS DATE! ON THIS DATE! Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia on this date in 1914. The archduke was the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne and their deaths are often credited as the start of World War I , which began a month later.
See You At The Next One: Germany and the Allies sign the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending World War I on this date in 1919. The fighting had actually ended the previous November, when an armistice took effect.
Although Germany was not broken up and avoided post-war occupation, other surrender terms were rather harsh and are credited with playing a large role in causing World War II.
USA! USA! The United States Senate never ratified the treaty, however, and America’s involvement in World War I did not officially end until 1921, when Congress passed and President Harding signed the Knox-Porter Resolution. The US would also sign peace treaties with Germany and other countries later that year.
The Supreme Court Giveth, The Supreme Court Taketh Away: The United States Supreme Court Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke, both upheld affirmative action yet outlawed racial quotas in a decision on this date in 1978.
Talk About Your Dry, Technical Matter: The vote was 5-4, though six different opinions were issued.
The suit was brought by 35-year-old Allan Bakke, who had twice been denied admittance to UC Davis medical school. Bakke had sued, and won, in California Superior Court, that the state’s affirmative action program and UC Davis’ policy of reserving a fixed number of seats for minorities, were unconstitutional. The University of California appealed to the US Supreme Court.
This decision was later affirmed by the California Supreme Court and had been argued before the US Supreme Court in October, 1977.
Oh Yeah: Bakke graduated from the UC Davis medical school in 1982. Except for when his case was before the Supreme Court, Bakke led a private life, though it is known he is a retired anesthesiologist.
Thought For The Day: For Confucius, true wisdom is to know the extent of what you don’t know quite as well as you know what you do know. – Gore Vidal, Creation
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Poland was the only founding member of the United Nations that did not sign the UN Charter on June, 26, 1945.
Today’s Stumper: What is the difference between and heir presumptive and an heir apparent? – Answer next time!
