Rewarding Fools

Your beloved Emperor is very frugal, believing everyone should live within their means. When your Emperor, in recent years, relocated to a new palace he found he was unable to sell his old palace. Fortunately, through wise choices, your Highness was able to cover the costs of two mortgages. It was a struggle but by saving and controlling costs the Emperor and his family was able to pull through. Your Emperor was amazed, however, when the government offered special financial assistance to those who had not planned carefully. It seemed that the government was only interested in helping those people who knowingly took out mortgages that they were unable to pay. This seems to be the general operating philosophy of the government. No matter how poor your personal choices are they will help you avoid responsibility by taking money from people who made the right choices in life and giving it to you. In other words, if you are a screw up, you are rewarded; if you are successful, you are punished.

The Order of the Donkey is about to apply this same philosophy to health care throughout the realm. If you have lived a healthy lifestyle and have provided for your own family's medical care through careful planning and wise choices you will be punished by being saddled with extra taxes and fees to cover the cost of medical care for people who are fools. There is not requirement to live a healthy lifestyle or to save money for health problems. If you can't save a dime for your own future because you are spending it on cigarettes and whiskey you need not worry. Someone wiser and healthier will pay for your cancer treatments and liver transplant. If you can't be bothered to use protection while enjoying a promiscuous lifestyle, you need to matter. Some person who is married and faithful to his or her spouse will cover the costs of your Aids medications. Yes, the fools will have to pay premiums too (if they have any money) but they will pay the same premium as a healthy person. And they can't be denied coverage at someone else's expense no matter how self destructive their lifestyle is.

There is no accountability as is the nature of government entitlement programs that are characteristically rife with fraud and waste. Our national leadership has decided that the best way to solve the problem of bankrupt government entitlement programs is to augment them with an even larger one. It is time for all of us to become fools as there is no reward for being wise.