The Health Care Trojan Horse
I have written any number of times about government health care as the excuse to regulate nearly everything, since nearly every individual decision and activity can be argued to affect one's health. If government is paying the health care bills, it now has an interest in regulating behaviors that might raise those bills. Given the US government has been on a 80-year mission to end the concept of individual responsibility, Obamacare is a huge milestone.
You see, Ms. Kaplan obviously thinks it is the role of government to "help Americans eat healthier" even if it means banning things. My guess is she'd not be quite as ready for government bans it they had to do with, oh I don't know, books or something similar.The excuse?
In Santa Clara County, one out of every four kids is either overweight or obese. Among 2- to 5-year-olds from low-income families, the rate is one in three. The county health system spends millions of dollars a year treating kids for health problems related to obesity, and the tab is growing.
If you haven't yet figured out that the passage of ObamaCare has emboldened the nannies at all levels, this ought to make the case. Trust me, this reporter didn't dig this nugget out. It was handed to her by those trying to justify this power grab.
Yeah, I know this is just a local action, but this is just a market test for future similar federal actions. I can just picture John Jay and James Madison arguing in a tavern. "Jimmy, I am just not sure what kind of Constitution we need. Well, John, whatever we do, we absolutely must make sure the Federal government has the power to ban toys from kids meals. Oh, and to regulate salt content too. After all, that's what we fought a war for."
Postscript: My question is, how long are health cost advocates going to nibble at the margins? Childhood obesity costs are probably close to zero, in the grand scheme of things, despite the BS numbers from "advocates." Two individual decisions drive a ton of health care costs - driving (the most dangerous activity we pursue, typically) and sex (not just in disease but in pre and post natal care). And I wonder how long it will be before government health care costs treating gunshot victims will be used to trump 2nd amendment arguments?
