Penna Dexter

Because Americans did not participate or behave the way the planners of ObamaCare had expected, here we are in 2017 with an individual health insurance market that is collapsing. Insurance companies have to decide whether to drop out or raise premiums to stay in business. Members of Congress are desperate to keep premiums from rising. Yet the idea of bailing out insurance companies is politically unpalatable. The Left dangles its solution: Why not take the insurance company out of the equation and have the government administer and pay for the healthcare of American citizens. We’d have what’s called a single-payer system. Polls show a surprising percentage of the American public supports this. This will be socialized medicine. Is that really a bad thing? To answer this question, we should go back to basics. A friend of mine who is a college student recently wrote an op ed for a class assignment on why we do not want this in America. I can think of no better way to look at the issue than through the eyes of a conservative millennial who hasn’t been jaded by the nuances of politics. Maddie Craven suggests that anyone who thinks socialized healthcare would be a great idea for America need only look at the Veterans’ Administration, where waiting periods for medical appointments and care — often critical care — are devastatingly, sometimes fatally, long. She warns, “If we used the same system for the whole country, think of how many people would not get the care they needed because there was a waitlist of millions of Americans, many with minor needs.” Ms. Craven states that socialized medicine contradicts American values like limited government, and the right to life. She writes, “In a socialist system, human life is not something that is highly valued. Our personal freedoms are also stripped away under this type of healthcare system.” So, we’ll wait longer for care. Care will get worse. We’ll have less choice, less freedom. We’ll pay for it with much higher taxes. No thanks.