Lost Freedoms Under ObamaCare

"People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both." [Benjamin Franklin]

So cites David Hogberg in his Investor's Business Daily column yesterday, in which he lists 20 freedoms that Americans have lost under ObamaCare. On this monstrous piece of legislation, Hogberg comments:

"...it will result in skyrocketing insurance costs and physicians leaving the field in droves, making it harder to afford and find medical care."

So true. Excerpts from his column follow:

1. You are young and don't want health insurance? You are starting up a small business and need to minimize expenses, and one way to do that is to forgo health insurance? Tough. You have to pay $750 annually for the 'privilege.' (Section 1501)

2. You are young and healthy and want to pay for insurance that reflects that status? Tough. You'll have to pay for premiums that cover not only you, but also the guy who smokes three packs a day, drinks a gallon of whiskey and eats chicken fat off the floor. That's because insurance companies will no longer be able to underwrite on the basis of a person's health status. (Section 2701).

5. You are an employer and you would like to offer coverage that doesn't allow your employees' slacker children to stay on the policy until age 26? Tough. (Section 2714).

6. You're a single guy without children? Tough, your policy must cover pediatric services. You're a woman who can't have children? Tough, your policy must cover maternity services. You're a teetotaler? Tough, your policy must cover substance abuse treatment. (Add your own violation of personal freedom here.) (Section 1302).

10. You are an employer who offers health flexible spending arrangements and your employees want to deduct more than $2,500 from their salaries for it? Sorry, can't do that. (Section 9005 (i)).

13. If you are a physician owner and you want to expand your hospital? Well, you can't (Section 6001 (i) (1) (B). Unless, it is located in a [county] where, over the last five years, population growth has been 150% of what it has been in the state (Section 6601 (i) (3) ( E)). And then you cannot increase your capacity by more than 200% (Section 6001 (i) (3) (C)).

15. The government will extract a fee of $2.3 billion annually from the pharmaceutical industry...Think you, as a pharmaceutical executive, know how to better use that money, say for research and development? Tough. (Section 9008 (b)).

16. The government will extract a fee of $2 billion annually from medical device makers...Think you, as a medical device maker, know how to better use that money, say for R&D? Tough. (Section 9009 (b)).

17. The government will extract a fee of $6.7 billion annually from insurance companies...Think you, as an insurance executive, know how to better spend that money? Tough.(Section 9010 (b) (1) (A and B).)

20. If you go for cosmetic surgery, you will pay an additional 5% tax on the cost of the procedure. Think you know how to spend that money you earned better than the government? Tough. (Section 9017).

Hogberg's column can be viewed in its entirety here.

In the meantime, as we reflect on these new rules, let us recall Madame Pelosi's comment from two days ago wherein she referred to this bill as "an American proposal that honors the traditions of our country."

On the contrary, the contents of this legislation, and the manner in which it was passed, smacks of statism. In the forthcoming legal challenges and attempts to repeal this law (beginning with the defeat of every Democrat in the mid-term elections), we should bear in mind Benjamin Franklin's aforementioned quote.