The Health Care Debate: Conservatives vs. Liberals

The Issue

If there is a single issue here I would say that it’s about freedom.  Conservatives feel that the government doesn’t have the right (or the power) to control the behaviors of individuals unless that behavior affects the State.  Liberals feel that they shouldn’t have to subsidize faceless corporations that make profit off of people at their most vulnerable.  And both sides think that people should have the freedom to not have to make the choice between food or medicine for their loved ones. 

Both groups want freedom and both sides seem reasonable at first.  But, there are serious consequences on one side.  Are those consequences ones we can live with?   

Who’s Right?

They both are.  Neither one is.  But, one is more “right” than the other.  Conservatives have a point.  They are absolutely right in that the government has no business telling me whether or not I have to purchase health insurance.  Liberals have a point.  They are absolutely right that I shouldn’t have to pay because someone else fails to take responsibility for their own actions.  Both sides don’t want emergency rooms to be the only place some people can get health care.  Both sides think that a single mom working herself to death for her family’s future shouldn’t have to choose between food and health care.  Both sides are disgusted by the behavior of insurance companies that put profit ahead of benefits paid for by their customers. 

So, who do we back?  If both sides are right and neither side is wrong; how do we make a choice between the two?  Well, let’s look at reality as it is, rather than through the dark lens of ideological belief.   

If the conservatives want a choice then the consequences of that are that people are going to die.  If conservatives feel that their freedom from government telling them what to do is more important than human life then I should have the right to not pay taxes that will go to pay for those that are too irresponsible to get health insurance.  That too, is government intervention.  Further, I shouldn’t have to pay for tax breaks to businesses that care for those too irresponsible to get health insurance.  Remember, for the conservatives the freedom to choose is the most important thing. 

The liberal alternative to this is for all of us to either choose to get health care or for those who choose not to, to pay for themselves with a tax.  Nobody dies from this tax.  If you choose to not get health care, then so be it, but it will be your tax that pays for your emergency coverage when you get sick, not mine.  For the liberals, lives are more important than freedom from being told to be responsible.    

Ultimately it comes down to this.  If the conservatives truly believe what they say they believe about personal responsibility and choice then when 20 year old John Smith gets in a car accident and rolls up to the emergency room without health insurance, he’s going to die.  If the liberals truly believe what they say they believe then when John rolls up to the emergency room he’ll be cared for.  But, his choice to not have health insurance will have been infringed upon.    

One side will have blood on its hands and the other won’t.  Despite my concerns about government intervention in my life, I know which side I’m on.  Which side will you choose?