Any day now, the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on the nefarious health care law known as "Obamacare." Whether the Court strikes down the law or not, the fact that the collective statists among our federal officials were willing to pass the law they passed (especially the way they passed it) is evidence they intend to keep at it until socialized medicine becomes entrenched in America. You can't bet your business on the removal of Obamacare.
There's still hope, of course... the statists have been after socialized government medicine in America since at least the 1930s, and they don't finally have it yet. If elected, Mitt Romney promises to remove the law. This time around, there is at least a fighting chance that the government takeover of health care won't "stick" long enough for its most crippling taxes and spending to kick in (which is good, because if they do kick in, the game is over... we'll never be able to go back to free-market medicine).
I was lucky enough recently to catch a screening of a short documentary, "Sick And Sicker," and I highly recommend it. In about an hour, the film covers the stories of Canadians dealing with their government medical program. The interviewees waited for months or years for routine treatment, while their pets received excellent life-saving medical care, from radiology to surgery. Canadians are prohibited from paying for any medical treatment out of their own pockets - they are "stuck" with the bureaucracy's decisions regarding their care while they watch their elected leaders jet off to America for immediate treatment ("like it was in the old Soviet Union," one interviewee noted). Many of them died before the film could be completed, while their government reduced its medical costs by forcing a shortage of doctors (they paid doctors to retire) and hospital beds (they closed entire wings, except to be rented as movie sets). In short, if Obamacare is allowed to stand, Canadians will suffer badly, and much more immediately than will Americans.
As a business person, you know America cannot afford Obamacare; the taxes and government spending alone will fundamentally change the entire private sector, flipping the traditional (and wildly successful) American system on its head by putting private business under the thumb of the government, irreversibly. But you might not be aware of how urgently business people - personally - can't afford government medicine. The taxes will cripple your business. The system will cripple you.
When we arrive at the statists' intended destination, where health care is no longer about what it does but is all about what it costs, none of us will be able to depend on medical care - no matter how much money we have. The best care - the great stuff to which we've become accustomed - will no longer be available anywhere, at any price. Doctors who are allowed to remain in practice will not be allowed to make much money - so, in a couple of decades, after the smart doctors we have now have retired, what will be the incentive for the best-and-brightest among our kids and grandkids to go into medicine? After the great research we're currently doing has yielded all the drugs it can yield, what will motivate anyone - anywhere - to create any great new solutions? You might be a liberal - I have been, too, for much of my life - but are you really willing to trust your own health and well-being to the medical system Obamacare will spawn? Do you really believe American medical care will still be awesome - do you really trust the sense of altruism of the doctors who'll be caring for you in your sunset years?
Personally, while I think most doctors have a sense of altruism, I put more trust in their competence. And I trust the profit motive to supply more such competence far more than I do bureaucratic regulation. I saw enough first-hand, during my Army days, to understand what government medicine is really like. The docs were well-intended and hard-working. They did a lot with a little. They cared. But there was no way they could perform the sort of modern-day miracles pulled off every day by private medicine. The system wouldn't let them. I watched my boss, a major I respected and admired, wither and die of cancer at the age of 40... I went running with him (eight miles) one day, after which he complained of a little cough and decided to pay a rare visit to sick call. He was dead in six months. I've always wondered how much more life he would've had if he hadn't been locked into government health care.
That's why I'm such an advocate of the five key daily health habits I call The NEWSS: Nutrition, Exercise, Water, Sleep, and Supplements. I want to stay as strong as I can, for as long as I can. I want to forestall and reduce my personal dependence on medical care.
We can still hope the march toward "Army medicine for all" will be halted, too. But neither our bodies, nor our businesses, can count on that.
Michael Hume is a speaker, writer, and consultant specializing in helping people maximize their potential and enjoy inspiring lives. As part of his inspirational leadership mission, he coaches executives and leaders in growing their personal sense of well-being through wealth creation and management, along with personal vitality.
Michael and his wife, Kathryn, divide their time between homes in California and Colorado. They are very proud of their offspring, who grew up to include a homemaker, a rock star, a service talent, and a television expert. Two grandchildren also warm their hearts! Visit Michael's web site at http://michaelhume.net
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