While much about Barack Obama remains mysterious, he was easily the most left-wing member of the U.S. Senate. As president of the United States, his left-wing orthodoxy is best manifest in his signature health plan. ObamaCare follows a principle beloved of Karl Marx and other socialist founding fathers: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
Note the first word: from. In this order of priorities it is more important what the individual gives up and what the state takes. The individual’s particular needs are secondary, and ObamaCare follows this pattern precisely.
The president’s announced intention is to bring “quality, affordable,” health insurance to the uninsured. That is not likely to happen for some time, if at all given the debacle of the rollout. But ObamaCare has already succeeded in taking away health insurance from some 10 million people in the individual market with loss of their health plan by January 1.
Those people purchased health insurance they believed best met their needs. It was what they wanted and in many cases they were happy with their plan and wanted to keep it.
President Barack Obama told the nation multiple times that “If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan. Period.” But despite recent disclaimers, that turns out to be untrue. Millions of others are happy with the employer-provided coverage they now stand to lose.
So ObamaCare is first and foremost a taking. It not only follows Marx’s “from each” principle but violates the principle precept of medical ethics: primum non nocere or “first do no harm,” also known as non-maleficience. Faced with a health-related problem, in other words, better not to attempt something that will cause more harm than good.
Consider now the second part of Marx’s principle: to each according to his need. Under ObamaCare, individuals do not determine their own needs. They get only the kind of health care government officials, in their infinite wisdom, want them to buy.
