Mandatory Health Insurance

The State of Ohio has just certified a petition to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot in Ohio. The amendment would attempt to make Ohio residents exempt from the requirement to have health insurance coverage. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which was signed into law last year has language in it that requires those who are not exempted to have healthcare insurance coverage in effect.

Conservatives have become incensed for reasons that seem impossible to explain. This has become another of those issues where no compromise is possible and in fact civil (meaning with our indoor voices) discussion is impossible. Both sides quickly get to name calling and motive slander. I have heard no one raise the central issue--the elephant in the room so to speak.

There is an expectation in this country that when we are sick or injured we are entitled to medical care. I personally think that the law should have mandated an opt-out for health care rather than healthcare. That is, no one should be forced to buy insurance but the choice would be one of responsibility. I understand that I and not the government (whether Federal, State or Local) am responsible for paying for health (medical) care that may be needed by me or my family.

That is the choice that must be made. The alternative is to agree that we (definition TBD) are entitled to medical care because we are human beings living in the wealthiest nation on the planet. I would have no personal difficulty with that national choice either but the argument would be completely different then.

I've been told that ethics is the study of resource allocation within moral boundaries. The ethical decision in the one case is whether or not to provide medical care to someone who has made a conscious decision not to carry insurance and who will pay for that care. In the other case the ethical choice is about how we as a nation will pay for that care. I think this constitutional amendment is ridiculous because it sweeps the real issues under the rug.