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| | In the summer 2009, the President Obama and the Democrats in control of Congress proposed a bill calling for a partial government takeover of health care. Their proposal included a "public option," which would be a government-controlled health insurance program like Medicare and yet available to persons of all ages. Their proposal includes many other controversial features, including: | | In the summer 2009, the President Obama and the Democrats in control of Congress proposed a bill calling for a partial government takeover of health care. Their proposal included a "public option," which would be a government-controlled health insurance program like Medicare and yet available to persons of all ages. Their proposal includes many other controversial features, including: |
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| − | <list aspects of program>
| + | *a “public option” that will define which treatments will be allowed and which will not, with a goal of limiting costs. |
| | + | *mandatory insurance requiring people to buy what they do not currently want, and which may not cover what they need. |
| | + | *requirements that "self-insured employers" provide insurance for their employees, even if the small business cannot afford it. |
| | + | *government-defined health benefits, like abortion or sex-change operations, that must be included by insurance as a condition of being able to participate in a government managed "Health Insurance Exchange." |
| | + | *"home visits" by government agents to "improve immunization coverage" (require proof of vaccination). |
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| | Sarah Palin, the Republican Vice Presidential candidate in 2008, criticized this plan as follows: | | Sarah Palin, the Republican Vice Presidential candidate in 2008, criticized this plan as follows: |
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| | Thomas Sowell is an African American economist who consistently supports free market solutions to health care and other challenges. | | Thomas Sowell is an African American economist who consistently supports free market solutions to health care and other challenges. |
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| | + | In America children having cystic fibrosis live an average of 37 years, but under nationalized health care in Ireland the life expectancy for children with this condition is only 27 years. Government-run health care does not cover many special-needs conditions, and once everyone is in the government system there is not enough of a free market to fund proper care for special needs persons. |
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| | ==Tariffs and Quotas== | | ==Tariffs and Quotas== |