So you want universal socialized health insurance. Alright, let’s suppose you get it. You’ve surrendered another large chunk of your liberty to the nanny state, but that’s okay, because now Big Brother will take care of you.
But health care is expensive. Very soon it becomes obvious that government is doing what it does best: building bloated bureaucracies that produce inferior services at astronomical costs. The system cannot be sustained. Something must be done, and that something will definitely not be admitting that another government program has failed. Another committee is formed. The committee looks into the cause of the extreme high cost of Hillary — no, strike that — Obama-care. Who shall we blame? The health care administration? No, that only works when private industry is involved, or an evil Republican administration.
Who is the culprit? Why, it’s you, of course. You have bad habits that are driving up the cost of your health care. For one thing, you’re too fat. The solution to that is to raise your insurance premiums. Oh, wait — you don’t pay any. It all comes out of that big congressional piggy-bank where everyone’s taxes go. That’s where all entitlements come from — you know, the money you earned to which someone else who didn’t earn it is entitled; but, I digress.
Back to the question at hand: what to do about your bad habits that are bankrupting Utopia. Strategy one: nag you about your eating habits. Strategy two: harass restaurants, especially fast food chains, to stop making food that you will actually buy. If McDonalds french fries tasted more like school lunch tater-tots, not only would they be healthier, you probably wouldn’t eat them at all. These two plans are already in action; but they’re not enough. You’re still too fat.
Execute strategy three: institute invasive, oppressive laws governing your diet. Require periodic measuring of your wasteline (I spelled it that way on purpose. It’s a joke — get it?) and impose penalties when it gets too big. Sound far-fetched? It’s already happening in Japan.
Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population.Those exceeding government limits — 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women, which are identical to thresholds established in 2005 for Japan by the International Diabetes Federation as an easy guideline for identifying health risks — and having a weight-related ailment will be given dieting guidance if after three months they do not lose weight. If necessary, those people will be steered toward further re-education* after six more months.
—New York Times, June 12, 2008
So you voted for universal health insurance, and got it. Congratulations; Big Brother is now your daddy and mommy, too.
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1 Comments:
#1 || 08·06·16··13:21 || Michael Yates
Werd! Thanks for this post. People don't often think all the way through the consequences of their opinions. Fortunately others have made the mistakes for us (Japan) so that we don't have to.
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