The Obama administration seems fond of creating odd names to describe situations our country faces.
It prefers the weird term “man-caused disasters,” for example, to the much clearer term “terrorist attacks.” And instead of talking about the “war on terror,” it uses the vague, hard-to-understand phrase “overseas contingency operation.”
Now, the administration is using that sort of wordplay in its shaky defense of ObamaCare socialized medicine.
As you may have read, a federal judge recently struck down as unconstitutional a key provision of ObamaCare – the provision that forces Americans to purchase government-approved medical insurance or be fined. That part of the law has accurately been called the “individual mandate.”
But the Obama administration and its allies apparently don’t like the “sound” of a “mandate.” (That, after all, implies making somebody do something against his will – which is exactly what ObamaCare does!)
So administration officials have decided to give the “individual mandate” a new name. Writing in The Washington Post, Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius referred to the mandate as “the individual responsibility provision.”
“The individual responsibility provision”?
What does “individual responsibility” mean to you? It probably means being personally accountable for your actions and for your welfare – and providing for yourself and your family as much as possible, rather than relying on government to do that.
But what does forcing taxpayers to buy government-approved medical insurance – or be fined – have to do with “individual responsibility”? What is the connection between “individual responsibility” and bringing tens of millions more Americans onto inefficient, bureaucratic government care – with no thought of the cost that places on our debt-ridden nation?
Most Americans take personal responsibility for their care by obtaining insurance either individually or through their workplaces. And it is sensible and compassionate to help those who, through no fault of their own, cannot get coverage by ordinary means.
But it is bizarre that supporters of ObamaCare would try to link its heavy-handed mandates and fines to “individual responsibility.” ObamaCare actually undermines that very important value.