“If we’re serious about making healthcare a right, that starts with adding it to the list of things that can’t be metered out by bureaucrats or voted away by our neighbors.”
Congress legislated Medicare by amending the Social Security Act which was justified by a controversial progressive interpretation of the Constitution’s “general welfare” clause. Medicare for All or some other federal healthcare program could be challenged and ruled unconstitutional by a more conservative Supreme Court. Amending the Constitution to specify healthcare as a power that the federal government is authorized to exercise.
“All persons being natural owners of their own bodies, Congress shall pass no law, nor any other jurisdiction within these United States, encumbering the provision of medical services on any grounds whatsoever. Not national security. Not presumed efficacy or safety. Not equity for disadvantaged communities. Not to “make them pay their fair share.” All such laws are immediately nullified, all enforcing agencies disbanded.
The Access to Healthcare Amendment (AHA!) doesn’t prevent government from subsidizing care for people who otherwise couldn’t afford it, but it does toss the layers of legally-mandated middlemen onto the street and return your health to your control.”
The Constitution enumerates the powers of the federal government. “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Your proposed healthcare amendment prohibits Congress from passing laws encumbering medical services but does not authorize Congress to provide such services.
Currently, the majority of the electorate is dissatisfied with Congress and the agencies within the executive branch created to implement legislation. The agencies are comprised of unelected officials who are not accountable to the public. The agencies create regulations enforceable as laws that when challenged are upheld by the Supreme Court. The federal bureaucracy has a well deserved reputation for inefficiency, incompetence and unresponsiveness. Medicare annually pays billions of dollars of fraudulent claims annually. VA medical care is substandard and remained that way for decades in spite of being recognized as a national disgrace. If healthcare is such a critical right as you profess, why would you trust it to be administered by the federal government?
As a federalist, I advocate for reducing federal government instead of increasing it. As a humanitarian, I agree that all people are deserving of adequate healthcare. As a practical realist, I understand that as wealthy as the U.S. is, there is not enough wealth to fund healthcare for all those in need in the world. Therefore, as a patriot, my emphasis is on adequate healthcare provided to U.S. citizens. Emergency services should be provided to anyone in our country who needs it but should be billed to the individual. If the individual is unable to pay, then the individual’s country of citizenship should be billed.
I seek alternatives to the federal government funding healthcare for its citizens. A major problem with government and insurance companies acting as healthcare administrators is the lack of member (recipient) representation. Blue Cross was founded in 1929 to allow Dallas area teachers to be allowed a three week stay in a hospital semi-private room by making a small monthly prepayment. The conglomerate has grown to the largest private health provider in the U.S. but has no enrollee representation. I propose that employee unions with member representation could provide a healthcare nonprofit insurance function. Unions for the various vocations could form a conglomerate and negotiate reduced rates from healthcare providers.
