Conservatives and Liberals really confuse me sometimes.  But liberals confuse me more often than conservatives in all honesty.  Their worldviews are sometimes very twisted.  The same people who will defend a woman's right to choose to have an abortion because it's her body and her choice will at the exact same time demand that people give up the right to choose what medical care they should receive, and give that right of choice to the government.  It amazes me.  Right now there are a lot of numbers from studies, claiming that what the State Senate Democrats are saying government coerced health insurance is going to cost, (on the order of $15 Billion, with a B) is actually what it's going to cost.

First question.  When was that last time that a politician's cost estimate for how much any government program was accurate?  Seriously.  I'm not being facetious here.  Politicians always low ball the numbers so that they sorts of cost comparisons can occur and make the government program look cheap.  That way they can get the bill passed, and when the real cost is discovered, it's too late.  Worst yet, all government entitlements either grow substantially in cost as time goes on, or shrink substantially in benefits.  Look at Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, etc. if you need proof.  Is that the solution that we want?  You can argue that those same choices are being made now... but at least I make that choice.  I can choose to pay more, or get fewer benefits depending on my need.  Democrats want to make that choice for everyone, as if the same choice is appropriate for everyone, when it's not.

The irony here, which I have mentioned several times before, is that the cause of rising health insurance and health care costs is due to a lack of consumer freedom.  My simple plan, which I laid out a month ago and added to later, (and to which no liberal blogger ever responded to) would solve our problems by giving choice back to consumers.  Liberals, per usual form, think the solution to lack of consumer choice is to take more of it away.  If people want, I'll be more than happy to expand on my earlier posts... but that is the solution.

So let me ask the liberals who support the Senate plan this.  What will happen in a couple years if costs skyrocket even more?  What will happen in a couple years if benefits are taken away, or services rationed, to control cost?  What could you possibly do?  You can't stop paying your premium.  Why?  Because it's not a premium any more!!!  It's a tax.

Jay seems to think there is no difference between the two.  But let me tell you something very important.  There is one significant difference between a premium and a tax.  If I choose not to pay a premium to a health insurance company because it's too high, I can either start paying it to a different company, or I can go without health insurance.  If I stop paying my taxes because they're too high, I can either go to jail, or my government can surround my home with SWAT teams and threaten to kill me.

One is paid for at the desire of the insured... while the other is taken at the threat of a gun.