Health care propaganda takes full root

OPINION:

Gallup found in a new survey that 62 percent of Americans now see it as the federal government’s responsibility to ensure all have health care.

This is a devastating blow to freedom.

Once upon a time, it was assumed that health care was an individual responsibility and so, too, the decision on whether or not to purchase medical coverage.

The times, they have a’changed.

In just a few short years — since the 1990s, really — America has moved from a country of personal accountability, where health care was a choice, to one of Big Nanny Government, where it’s expected that the political class takes care of the citizenry.

Remember Hillarycare? That was the socialist-style form of health care brought forward by then-first lady Hillary Clinton. And Americans wouldn’t have it; they wouldn’t stand for it. Her government-funded vision for the health care industry — a 1,342-page behemoth of a plan for universal coverage — went down in flames. It burned so fast, in fact, it never even made it to the House or Senate floor for votes, despite the fact her own Democrat Party controlled both sides of Congress. It wasn’t just cost that relegated the plan to the trash heap — though health care for all was certainly an expensive endeavor. But it was also the idea, the premise, the foundational principle of universal Hillarycare. 

Americans just couldn’t stomach the idea of a Big Government takeover of the medical field. It was too much socialism, too fast, too intrusive on free market medical care. So politicians stood down on it and let the matter die a quick legislative death.

What a difference a couple of decades makes.

Fast-forward to Barack Obama and Obamacare.

Maybe it was the opening of the borders and the surge of migrants from countries with governments that regularly took from Peter to pay Paul. Maybe it was the pen and cellphone style of Obama’s bully executive branch, combined with his fawning followers in the media, that broadcast loud and clear to political enemies: Screw the Constitution; we’re going full steam ahead on this health plan. Maybe it was the dumbing down of America in the school systems so that those who were churned out were conditioned to believe capitalism and corporations were the double-whammy evils of modern societies. But whatever the reason, whatever the combination of reasons, by the time Obama came around, socialist ideas didn’t carry the same gasp factor as with Hillarycare.

Suddenly, the narratives started shifting on health care and instead of phrases like “personal choice,” “personal responsibility,” “personal and private decisions” dominating discussions, the word “right” was being tossed into the equation with alarming frequency.

Health care is a human right — we were told.

Nobody should die because of lack of health care — we were told.

The devilish detail, of course, is that health care rights are very different from taxpayer-funded health care rights — and since Republicans stopped making the argument that the idea of health care may be a human right, but that tax-paid health care certainly was not and is not, Democrats were then quite able to push forth the talking points that since health care was a right, taxpayers ought to pay for that right.

Republicans waved the white flag and failed to fight adequately and appropriately on the key issue that Americans should have opposed on Obamacare — which was the same as Hillarycare — and that is: In a free society like America, socialized health care is not welcomed. Republicans failed to fight effectively and loudly about the need to keep government out of health care and the need to remove regulations that contributed to the rising costs of health care. Republicans failed to stand up strong against socialism, and in so doing, they made just as much a mess of America’s health care system as the collectivist-minded Democrats who were on board with Obamacare from the start.

Republicans, the supposed gatekeepers of the free market, let Democrats win the health care battle because Republicans didn’t stand for the principles of America — freedom and free markets and free choice.

Now comes this survey to show just how far the nation has fallen down a sinkhole called acceptable socialism.

“Sixty-two percent of Americans say it’s the federal government’s responsibility to ensure everyone has health care coverage, a survey from Gallup found,” The Hill reported. “The figure is the highest it’s been in more than a decade. … Large majorities of Democrats have consistently believed the government should ensure Americans have health care coverage, but in recent years, independents and Republicans have also shared this view.”

Yes.

The propaganda has taken root and spread.

On health care and on who pays for health care, Americans of all political persuasions are shedding their partisanship and joining forces to fight for the common good of all — and nowadays, that means: the taxpayer pays. Republicans should have stuck with the principle of free markets and personal accountability. Had they only done right by the Constitution, we wouldn’t be spiraling into the health care abyss of out-of-control costs and inadequate or unavailable services we now face.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE  or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.