Remember the Past

"Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it."

This letter appeared in the NJ Star-Ledger on March 26, 2013:

Health care reform   March 23 marked the third anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. Regardless of which side of the debate you were on, this anniversary offers an opportunity for us to put the past behind us and take advantage of health care reform that will benefit all New Jerseyans.
   Starting Oct. 1, uninsured New Jerseyans will be able to purchase affordable health insurance plans on a web-based marketplace. Those purchasing plans on the marketplace will also be able to simultaneously access federal subsidies to offset the cost of insurance. The subsidies will be available to families earning as much as $94,200.
   New Jersey’s uninsured reflect the diversity of our state. They are representative of every age group, ethnicity, gender, race, region and socioeconomic status.
   To educate New Jerseyans and to help those eligible to enroll, the New Jersey for Health Care Coalition, in partnership with New Jersey Citizen Action, has announced plans to train an army of ambassadors to conduct education and outreach statewide. We invite you to join with us in these efforts.
   With health care reform now a reality, now is the time to come together, put the battles behind us and focus on our future — one in which every citizen has access to affordable, quality health care services.
   Maura Collinsgru, health policy advocate, New Jersey Citizen Action

My comments:

Rather than "put the past behind us," as Maura Collinsgru urges, we should remember it. 

We should remember all of the individual rights-violating government intrusions into American healthcare that created the very problems of soaring costs that ObamaCare is allegedly designed to fix, but which ObamaCare will be and is making worse. We should remember the tax and regulatory policies that brought us the employer-based, third-party-payer system of private health insurance; government programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP; and the piling on of expensive insurance mandates.  

Otherwise, when ObamaCare's disastrous consequences become impossible to ignore, we will be offered undiluted socialized medicine--in the form of HR676 or "Medicare-for-All"--as the only solution; a campaign that has already begun. And Collinsgru and her ilk will once again be telling us to forget the past, including her own letter praising ObamaCare.

We should never ignore history. Instead, we should reject Maura Collinsgru's advice. People who value their lives and freedom, and respect the same of others, should never "come together" with those who don't. 

People are morally and rightfully responsible for their own healthcare needs, and should be free to pursue them by voluntary contract with providers and insurers in a market free from government coercion. But we should recognize that no one has a right to "access" to other people's wallets, which Collinsgru dishonestly calls "access to affordable, quality health care services." We should be honest enough to recognize that the only practical and moral solution is to face up to the failures of past government policies, and begin repealing them.  

Related:

As ObamaCare Failures pile Up, Get Ready for the Mother-of-All Healthcare Battles

The Left's False Alternative on Health Care

Connecting the Dots on Healthcare, by Hal Scherz, via FIRM