As part of a generation consumed with making individual choices, it is amazing that the Obama administration believes that a one-size-fits-all health care system trumps an American citizens right to make his or her own medical decisions.Of the many distressing aspects of ObamaCare, the mandate that all individuals must obtain health insurance is the most choice-restrictive.
The individual mandate means that unless a person possesses health insurance that the U.S. government deems adequate, he or she will face extra taxes.According to the Heritage Foundation, even though President Obama has repeatedly denied that the individual mandate is a tax in disguise, a recently issued Justice Department legal brief defending ObamaCare argued that the penalty used to enforce the mandate is a valid exercise of Congresss power to impose taxes on its citizens.With all the rhetoric on imposing an individual mandate for our own good, the harsh reality is that it is simply another tax on already burdened American citizens.
Although a majority of Americans do not want ObamaCares one-choice health care system, and despite the fact that never before in U.S. history has the federal government legally required every American citizen to purchase a product without having a choice, it does not matter.With this administration, it is either Obamas way or the highway.
Happily, several congressmen are heeding the will of the American people and have introduced legislation to push back against ObamaCare.Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) has introduced legislation which would completely repeal ObamaCare.Kings website states, The American people must take their country back by methodically eliminating every vestige of creeping socialism, including socialized medicine. This fight is far from over.Many other elected officials agree, including Rep. Scott Garrett (R-New Jersey) who has introduced legislation to repeal the individual mandate clause and allow individuals to remain free to choose the health insurance they want.
The individual mandate is not the only area of ObamaCare in which citizens are no longer allowed to choose what is right.According to Douglas Johnson, Director of National Right to Life, The Obama administration will give Pennsylvania $160 million in federal tax funds, which weve discovered will pay for insurance plans that cover any legal abortion. This is just the first proof of the phoniness of President Obamas assurances that federal funds would not subsidize abortion but it will not be the last.
After National Right to Life discovered that ObamaCare would indeed cover elective abortions in high-risk insurance pools in Pennsylvania, the Obama administration backed off and clarified that federal funds would not be used for abortion.However, the Pennsylvania case illustrates that the Obama administration will manipulate vague language to try to sneak through the expansion of abortion every chance it can.
The reality that states can indeed get federal funds for abortion, even after Obama issued an executive order to gain the votes of seemingly pro-life Democratic congressmen during the health care debate, shows the hollowness of that executive order.While Obama promised that no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place, there is no assurance that the administration will not continue its efforts to fund abortion under the radar.
The good news is that Americans do still have one choice: the choice to vote.The best way to ensure that this country remains true to its principles and honors the will of the people is to vote.With one-third of the Senate and the entire House up for re-election this year, every citizen has the responsibility to make a choice at the polls.
Candace Myrick is an intern with Concerned Women for Americas (CWA) Ronald Reagan Memorial Internship Program.For more information on intern opportunities with CWA, click here.