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Progressives have a knack for glorifying chaos, spinning destruction as some heroic step toward toppling a “corrupt system.” That’s why the left’s giddy reaction to a healthcare executive being shot in the back, allegedly by a 26-year-old coward, was predictable.
Of course, the Internet’s dark alleys often celebrate cold-blooded murder. What’s truly chilling, though, is watching American lawmakers twist Luigi Mangione’s suspected actions into a platform to demonize “profits” and nudge the U.S. closer to a full-blown federal takeover of the healthcare sector.
For instance, Elizabeth Warren, the senator from Massachusetts and progressive queen bee, told the Huffington Post: “The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system.”
A “warning”? That sounds an awful lot like a thinly veiled threat — perhaps a nod to expect more public assassinations?
Warren tried to clarify but only managed to fumble into justification: “Violence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far. This is a warning that if you push people hard enough, they… start to take matters into their own hands in ways that will ultimately be a threat to everyone.”
Basically, violence is bad, but hey, the guy had a point.
Not to be outdone, Bernie Sanders lamented that “you cannot have people in the insurance industry rejecting needed healthcare for people while they make billions of dollars in profit.”
Notice how the left’s knee-jerk reaction is always to blame capitalism. They won’t rest until a Cuba-style infrastructure lands on America’s shores.
This morally bankrupt rhetoric underscores yet another stark difference between the left and the right on political violence. Frustration with an insurance provider, no matter how valid, can never excuse mowing someone down in the street. That’s the message we should expect from elected leaders — not the kind of equivocations that embolden lunatics to start targeting corporate executives.
Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll find that the health insurance “villains” progressives love to demonize are pawns in a much bigger game. The real culprit here is the government-created labyrinth of rules and regulations that have bloated costs, restricted access, and handed power to a few dominant players.
Remember Obamacare? That grand promise to fix everything wrong with our healthcare setup?
Fourteen years later, it’s a total disaster.
Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane: Barack Obama pledged — over and over — that family premiums would drop by $2,500 a year if the “Affordable Care Act” passed. Well, the law did pass, and guess what? Premiums didn’t just fail to drop — they skyrocketed.
And who could forget this Hall-of-Fame whopper from the former president: “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.”
Now, The Wall Street Journal has revealed even more damning stats exposing the massive bait-and-switch Obamacare pulled on the public at large:
It gets worse.
Obamacare mandates that all insurance plans include a long list of “essential benefits” dictated by Washington — whether consumers want these add-ons or not. At the same time, insurers are prohibited from setting premiums based on health status or adjusting rates reasonably depending on a person’s age.
The results? Young, healthy individuals foot the bill for older, sicker ones.
This government-created redistribution scheme makes it impossible to find cost-effective insurance policies that protect against catastrophic events, which is the original purpose of insurance.
As the Journal bluntly put it: “If the goal were to help Americans with costly health conditions, it would have been far simpler and less expensive to boost subsidies for state high-risk pools.”
Simple and effective. And nowhere near the $2.5 trillion price tag we’re saddled with today.
But simplicity was never the point. The goal was “to turn insurers into de facto public utilities and jerry-rig a halfway house to single-payer healthcare.”
All the theatrics, the grandstanding, and the bloodlust lead to one place — a government-controlled system.
Want a glimpse of that future? Take a peek at the United Kingdom.
Guess how long the “waiting list” is to get “planned” care under their National Health Service. If you said 7.54 million people, ding-ding! You win. Let that sink in: 7.54 million folks are entitled to “free” services, but in reality, they’re buried in a massive, ever-growing backlog.
Nearly half a million Brits are waiting on something serious, like cardiovascular treatment, according to UK’s Daily Express, while 590,000 women are stuck in line for “gynecological services.” Oh, and roughly 240,000 residents have been waiting more than a year just to see a specialist. What’s the NHS solution? Aiming for an “18-week target” — yes, four months — to see a doctor. That’s what’s considered reasonable under socialized medicine.
At the same time, British health official Wes Streeting is imploring hospitals to “put patients ahead of targets” so they can cut into the bottleneck without people dying on gurneys in emergency hallways.
Imagine needing to send out that memo.
In truth, government healthcare may be “free,” but it’s useless if patients can’t use it to see a doctor or get critical treatment. Political leaders shouldn’t waste time showering the public with grandiose promises that can never be met in a world of limited resources. Instead, they should focus on expanding access to care by deregulating markets, fostering competition, and letting consumers choose what works best for them.
Obamacare did the opposite. With its mandate-frenzy approach, it prioritized red tape over real care. And we’re living with the consequences. Therefore, if progressives are furious about the state of America’s insurance industry, maybe they should aim their outrage where it belongs — at the very law they championed.
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