Proposition 72


My take on Proposition 72 - NO

This is part of my ongoing series of posts on each of the Propositions we'll be voting on. Here is the original post, with my ground rules for evaluating propositions, my scorecard and links to each of my arguments.

Proposition 72 - No

This Prop has a very noble aim - to make sure that everyone in the state has health care coverage. While that is an honorable goal, using the force of the government to strong arm businesses into this goal is a bad idea. First, it will really hurt the small businesses (job-creators) that we've been trying to convince to stay here in CA and help our economy recover. Second, it is always unwise to use the force of government in an area where people could remain free and accomplish the same goal.

Let me explain. Essentially, all government and law is about coercion. We make laws and threaten people to not do certain things or else we will throw them in jail (or fine them, etc). This is a very good thing when it comes to murder - there's no way that wishing murder would go away will be anywhere near as effective as a good criminal justice system. But on issues that could be accomplished without government intervention, its best to leave them out of it because whenever you bring government into an area of life, you bring in coercion. Coercion means less freedom, less liberty. Thats fine if we're talking murder, freedom isn't good for dead people. Its bad when you're talking healthcare.

This law is also a problem in that it takes away the rights of you and I to negotiate with an employer. Lets say I had a sweet deal where I could buy cheap individual insurance at a rate that was better than what my employer gets. I would like to use this to my advantage, so I would like to negotiate a large salary with no benefits. The employer is happy, because they don't have to pay my benefits and they don't have the risk of rising premiums, and I'm happy because I ultimately get paid more. This scenario crumbles under Prop 72 - as my employer and I would have no right to negotiate a contract that didn't include health insurance. This is the point of government and coercion - it will always remove liberty wherever it gets involved.

Bottom line: We need more jobs, not less. Forcing employers by coercion to pay for healthcare means they'll choose the cheapest health care available and we'll have less jobs and less room to negotiate our salary.

Posted: Mon - November 1, 2004 at 07:52 PM | | | | | | |

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