Happy and Healthy September 19, 2013September 19, 2013 Just a tiny bit of sarcasm before we get to the happy part: HEALTHY I don’t want free preventive care! And I don’t want others to have it either! This is important to me: Defund Obamacare before it’s too late! Kill it! I don’t want unlimited benefits if I get really sick or horribly injured — I want my coverage to run out once I reach a “lifetime cap.” Seriously: Defund Obamacare! Bring back lifetime caps! I don’t want insurers sending me refund checks if they hang on to more than 20% of the premiums they collect. I don’t want them to have to compete for business in state-wide “exchanges.” I want insurers to be able to drop me if I get sick! Or reject me if I have a pre-existing condition. And it’s not just me I’m thinking of: I want my friends and family at risk as well, and anyone else not in good health. I don’t want the “doughnut hole” closed for seniors. If they’re just scraping by, choosing between food and heat and medicine — well, that’s one place I’m pro-choice. Defund Obamacare! Because here’s the thing: I know the law is loaded with pilot programs and “incentives to adopt best practices” designed to improve the quality and lower the cost of health care delivery over time. And I’m not necessarily against that. But I also know that there’s no free lunch. All these benefits — more secure coverage, free preventive care, and the like — come at a cost that won’t all be covered by improvements in efficiency. And it’s spelled out right there in the law! In order to keep Obamacare from adding to the deficit (it’s projected to lower it slightly, in fact), taxes are raised on income above $250,000. And that’s just unAmerican and, dare I say, unChristian. Hear me proud and clear: I don’t want the well off helping the less well off. I don’t want higher income folks paying an extra $38,000 on each $1 million in dividends and capital gains they receive — I’d rather see millions of poor people uninsured and the elderly choosing between food and heat and medicine. I’d rather shut down the entire Federal government than fund this thing. That’s just the way I roll. I’m a Republican, and I’ve voted 42 times to kill it. (PS – I don’t mind the “group health insurance plans” at all those Fortune 500 companies, where the young and healthy in effect subsidize the old and diabetic — that’s capitalism. If the young and healthy don’t like it they can quit their jobs. But this? Forcing the young and healthy not already insured to to buy coverage or pay a fine? What’s next: requiring young healthy people to carry automobile insurance? Taking FICA out of their pay to support the social safety net they’re not likely to need while they’re young? I would never want to live in a country that does that. USA! USA!) (PPS – It’s not like I’m saying we don’t need some reform. But certainly not reform that places any burden on the wealthy who are, after all, [not] the job creators. Better to repeal Obamacare and let us Republicans start from scratch. Yes, we did have the White House and both houses of Congress for the first six years of this century — but at the time it just slipped our mind.) HAPPY GENE According to this, there is one — but you can help. Joy is contagious. Check it out.