Obamacare, Republicare, or Medical Freedom?

Obamacare, Republicare, or Medical Freedom?
Posted by Laurence Vance on January 6, 2011 10:18 PM

House Republicans have promised a vote to repeal Obamacare. But don't be fooled into thinking that they favor a free market in medical care. They just want to replace Obamacare with Republicare. In a speech late last year to students at American University in Washington, Eric Cantor, the new Republican House Majority Leader, expressed support for two of the worst provisions of Obamacare. Said Cantor:

What I think you will see us do is push for repeal of the health care bill and at the same time contemporaneously submit our replacement bill.

We too don't want to accept any insurance company's denial of someone and coverage for that person because he or she might have a pre-existing condition. Likewise we want to make sure that someone of your age has the ability to access affordable care if it's under your parent's plan or elsewhere.

In other words, Cantor wants to use the heavy hand of government to force health insurers to do business with people the government tells them to and to keep doing business with others until they reach a certain age that the government decrees.

Republicare is not a return to a free market in medical care. Real medical freedom means a complete deregulation of the health insurance industry, unrestricted freedom of contract, the freedom of insurers to discriminate, the absolute right of refusal of coverage, and the repeal of all federal laws related to drugs, health insurance, or medical care. It also means no medical licensing laws, special privileges for the AMA or Big Pharma, restrictions on a free market in organs, federal nutrition guidelines, or federal vaccination programs.