The Death of Obamacare

A death blow to Obamacare was delivered when Scott Brown won the Massachusetts Senate race. But Scott Brown alone didn’t kill Obamacare; he just put the final nail in the coffin. Obamacare died because Americans simply don’t believe in its core tenets.
The people Obamacare aimed to cover were not disadvantaged; they simply didn’t have insurance. Americans are willing to sacrifice for those who can’t help themselves. The health care of the poor and indigent (Medicaid), the elderly (Medicare), and children (SCHIP) is all covered through the generosity of the American people. But Americans have drawn the line twice now-with Hillarycare and Obamacare-at covering those who simply don’t have insurance.

Looking back, Americans have always taken care of those who cannot take care of themselves. Before the creation of government health bureaucracies, churches and charities cared for the poor and the sick. They still do, because by no means can government fix all problems. The comfort of charity is all that is available to many. Much of the criticism levied at conservatives portrays them as heartless, unfeeling, cold, Ebenezer Scrooge-type characters void of any human compassion. Nothing could be further from the truth. Arthur Brooks, author of Who Really Cares, writes that “Conservative households in America donate 30% more money to charity each year than liberal households.”

The old wisdom that conservatives don’t want to help is just plain wrong. Conservatives just don’t want government to force them to help. When it comes to helping the poor, conservatives would rather give their money directly to charity than have it taken from them by force by the government and doled out to favored political interests. (If you don’t think the government uses force to take your money, try not paying your taxes for a few years. Remember who put Al Capone behind bars? Not the FBI, the IRS).

This hatred of forced giving, not the thought of giving itself, is what has killed Obamacare and Hillarycare, and many other wealth redistribution schemes. America is a center-right country, filled with mildly conservative people who appreciate helping their neighbors, but abhor forced taxation and wealth redistribution. That’s what beat Martha Coakley, that’s what killed Obamacare, and in the words of Walter Cronkite, “That’s the way it is.”