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MediocreCare — Guaranteed!

When Senator Bernie Sanders demands that the government “guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege,” does anyone think about how governments currently provide more basic services as rights

You have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in America — or so we say — but 

  1. our police aren’t legally obliged to defend us,
  2. prosecution and compensation for real crimes is iffy
  3. one can ruin oneself in court either as plaintiff or defense in civil cases, and
  4. the whole legal system is kludgy in the extreme. 

And this is the core function of government!

Why expect better government performance in medical care?

Bernie’s plan, which Democratic front-​runner Senator Elizabeth Warren wafflingly endorses, is “Medicare for All.” But the current Medicare-​for-​seniors doesn’t cover all of seniors’ medical bills. Seniors pay out of pocket for a portion of their medical costs, often buying “supplemental” insurance to help in the process. If they can afford it.

Medicare does not pay for all medical costs incurred at the supply end, either. The federal government operates with schedules of compensation, limiting charges and procedures in customary bureaucratic fashion. That’s why doctors and clinics increasingly refuse to take Medicare patients. This is what we want to roll out to the whole population?

Polls show that voters are more willing to pay higher taxes in return for lower cost health care,” Jake Novak explains at CNBC. “What they won’t tolerate are reduced services, especially when it comes to health care, higher taxes or not.”

What assurance can politicians provide that mediocre-care, their latest schemes for socializing medicine, won’t amount to higher taxes for reduced services?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.


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Based on a photo by Molly Adams

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Inclusivity Not Included

The 3rd annual Woman’s March strolled by over the weekend — a tiny fraction of its former self. 

Two years ago, close to a million protesters converged on Washington, D.C., while this year’s event “appeared to attract only thousands,” The Washington Post reported, “mirroring lower turnout at marches across the country.”

“[A] movement that once bragged about its inclusivity,” explained a separate news analysis, “has been roiled by reports of battles over diversity, hate speech and branding.”

In addition to squabbles over corporate ownership of the very name of the “Women’s March,” the leaders of the main organization have been accused of anti-​Semitism. “Board members Linda Sarsour, Carmen Perez and Women’s March, Inc., co-​president Tamika Mallory, have publicly affiliated with and praised anti-​Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan,” notes the Capital Research Center’s Influence Watch website.

March founder Teresa Shook called on them to resign, charging “they have allowed anti-​Semitism, anti-​LBGTQIA sentiment and hateful, racist rhetoric to become a part of the platform …” The Democratic National Committee and a number of progressive groups have withdrawn their support. 

But the “inclusivity” was always fake. As a “women’s” march, it started out excluding half the population. Nothing wrong with women having events or organizations that focus on issues of particular interest to females; it’s just not inclusive.

And let’s not ignore that pro-​life women were specifically booted from participating in the original 2017 event. 

“Is the Women’s March more inclusive this year?” a USA Today article asked before last year’s pink-​hatted festivities. 

Apparently not. This year, everyone was excluded fromthe Eureka Women’s March — cancelled because those hoping to participate were “overwhelmingly white.”

With all this inclusion, no wonder we are so divided.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.


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