Paul Hsieh, MD writes:
[Supporters of mandatory insurance have] argued that uninsured patients receiving free health care were free riders on those who chose to purchase insurance. Hence, in the name of “personal responsibility,” everyone should be forced to purchase insurance.
But the idea of forcing people to act in a certain way inverts the very notion of responsibility. The concept of responsibility arises from the fact that humans have free will, and can thus choose to act in ways that benefit — or harm — themselves.
Personal responsibility thus presupposes that an individual has the freedom to make his own decisions and to enjoy — or suffer — the consequences thereof. In the context of health insurance, personal responsibility means that if a patient wants to pay a willing insurer more money now in exchange for the assurance of lower future medical costs if he becomes ill, then he is free to make that choice. …
Suppose the government attempted to promote its version of “individual responsibility” as follows:
“We promise to cover all your medical expenses for life. But because we’re paying the bills, we’ll also tell you what you may or may not eat. You must obey our diet restrictions in the name of individual responsibility.” …
We can see a foretaste of this in First Lady Michelle Obama’s recent remarks at the signing ceremony for the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act” (which specifies what foods children may or may not eat at government-funded school meal programs), saying: “We can’t just leave it up to the parents.”
Read the whole article at Pajamas Media: Mandatory Insurance: Beware Counterfeit ‘Responsibility’.
