Editor's Note: This article was written by James Quinn, a senior director of strategic planning for a major university. James has held high-level financial positions with a retailer, home builder, and a university in his 22-year career. This article originally appeared in the July 2009 edition of the Casey Report.


“The reason this country continues its drift toward socialism and big nanny government is because too many people vote in the expectation of getting something for nothing, not because they have a concern for what is good for the country.”
-- Lyn Nofziger

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When I decided to tackle the national health-care issue, I thought a good start would be examining the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to see what they had to say about the right to health care. I hunted and searched the various documents that created our country.

I found that according to the Declaration of Independence, we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Fourteenth Amendment states: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

I didn't find the right to health care in the Bill of Rights. I also didn't  find the right to an Ivy League education, the right to a well paying job, the right to a fully paid-for pension, the right to drive a BMW X5, the right to an attractive husband or wife, the right to reside in a 6,000 square-foot McMansion, or the right to get into Heaven.

I did discover that government derives their JUST powers from the consent of the people. I also found that if those who govern use their powers in a destructive manner, the governed have the right to abolish that government and install a new government. Those who have run up $12 trillion in debt, led us into multiple-trillion-dollar foreign wars, left our children and grandchildren with a $100 trillion bill for unfunded promises, and have sold their souls to evil banks and corporations, have exercised their powers in a destructive manner.

Despite this record of government corruption, failure, and mismanagement, these politicians are about to fashion a new government health-care bureaucracy that will cost trillions. Passage of this plan is a fateful decision which will push the United States a step closer to economic collapse.

Cost of Health Care

“It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer it.”
-- Thomas Sowell

The US health-care system is riddled with inefficiencies, outrageous administrative expenses, inflated prices, pitiable management and inappropriate care, waste, and fraud. These problems increase the cost of medical care associated with government health programs like Medicare and Medicaid and health insurance for employers and workers, and affect the security of families. There's one thing that conservatives, liberals, and libertarians can all agree upon: The cost of health care in the US is out of control.