Mental Health Blogs

The media hasn’t paid much attention yet to an amendment slid into the Senate Finance Committee’s health care reform bill, which passed out of committee yesterday and is set for a Senate vote next week, by Sen. John Ensign (R-Nevada). The amendment would, as described by the Las Vegas Sun:

“The healthy lifestyles amendment passed on a vote 19-4, with a handful of Democrats opposed.

“It would allow employers to offer steep discounts of up to 30 percent for workers who lead healthy lifestyles – with discounts of up to 50 percent allowed at the discretion of the Health and Human Services secretary.

“Currently, employers can only offer discounts of up to 20 percent.”

What healthy lifestyles would those be? Ensign’s measure would apply to people who quit smoking, lost weight or met other “healthy lifestyle goals.” The measure was opposed by the American Cancer Society and other public health groups who fear its punitive nature.

I’ve never agreed with the ACS and the public health crowd on much before, but this amendment amounts to discrimination against smokers and people who are overweight and it’s completely out of line. It’s straight up Nanny State nonsense and it’s ironic that it comes from a Senator who was caught having an affair with a campaign aide. That it comes from the Senate’s only Pentecostal Christian makes my blood curdle (no offense, but Pentecostals have always creeped me out).

I don’t even want to get into how the amendment–and increasingly much of the bill itself–flies in the face of personal choice and American individualism.

We just don’t need this kind of nannying coming from the federal government, not only because it’s intrusive as things stand now, but because it could create a slippery slope of intrusion. How far away are we from Sen. Ensign or one of his colleagues proposing forced depression treatment–or creating punitive penalties for those who refuse treatment–on the basis that depression supposedly costs America $60 billion or more in missed workdays and that therefore if a doctor diagnoses you with depression, then you must undertake treatment or face a penalty of some kind. They could make the same argument with ADHD/Adult ADD. Or cholesterol. Forced statins for all!

I fear that we are not far away from that kind of scenario.

I’ve not seen the precise language of Sen. Ensign’s amendment since the Senate Finance Committee’s chair, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) is refusing to allow it be posted online ahead of next week’s expected Senate vote. That’s some nice transparency and accountability.

I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to support whatever health reform bill eventually makes its way to President Barack Obama for his signature. The Senate version was the bill that I figured had the greatest chance of being sane. But in recent days the bill has become larded with all kinds of measures that I oppose: a provision requiring all Americans without employer-provided health insurance to buy health insurance through a non-profit cooperative, something I’m not convinced is Constitutional; significant fines (as high as $25,000) and up to one year of jail time for people who fail to pay a penalty (as high as $1,900 by some estimates) for not having coverage; and, what appear to be actual tax increases (we’ll have to wait for the CBO’s analysis, but I keep hearing they are in there).

Now with this Nanny State amendment added to the mix, I am afraid I won’t be able to support whatever bill gets hammered out later this month between the two houses of Congress. Not that Congress cares very much about what individual Americans think anymore. But, keep in mind, I haven’t had health insurance in over two years and I was biased in favor of getting something done here that would benefit tens of millions of Americans. If someone like me is turning against health care reform, then Congress is in deep disconnect mode.

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Related posts:

1. Senate Health Care Reform Bill Released
2. House Health Care Bill Pushes Mental Health Promotion, Nanny State In Workplace
3. Well, There’s One Good Thing In The Senate Health Care Reform Bill
4. Senate Health Care Reform Bill Contains Controversial MOTHERS Act, Abortion Study
5. Senate Health Care Bill Contains $1.25 Billion Gift To Sen. Stabenow