Government and Health Insurance

The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch runs a regular feature in its newspaper identifying an important issue to the local community and asking the vote of the readers on that issue along with comments. Occasionally I will respond and comment on the issue raised, as I did to yesterday’s topic.

The Hot Issue: Should the government make sure everyone has health insurance?

My Response: Absolutely not.

Health insurance is not an area that government should be involved. They are already too heavily involved with the Medicare and Medicaid system.

The primary responsibility of federal government is national defense and safeguarding the freedoms of its citizens. Included in this responsibility is securing our national borders. The government is not doing what it should be in this area, let alone what it should not be doing!

It has been and should be the primary responsibility of individuals, families, churches and other not-for-profit charities to provide for the needs of those unable to obtain their own health insurance.

Taking care of the elderly, severely disabled, orphans etc. should also be the primary responsibility of individuals, families, churches and other not-for-profit organizations.

Almost anyone other than the government can do a better job than a bureaucratic government agency. Just look how inefficiently and ineffectively the government handles the postal service or now the automobile industry. They have the reverse-Midas touch. Everything it touches it messes up, it ruins, it tarnishes.