Living Healthy Without Pharmaceuticals: Does the Healthcare Bill Limit Our Ability to Choose?
The freedom to choose is a right that has stayed principle on the minds of the liberated for quite some time throughout history. This right is vastly accepted throughout the world, but what does the freedom of choice apply to? Does it apply to your health? If so, how could the healthcare bill passed in the United States?
Examining history it is apparent that when the people are given the opportunity to seize freedom, they are often willing to put their lives on the line in order to grasp it. The United States is no exception to this course of action. The early people of the United States had strong ideas and an inexorable drive to proclaim and maintain their freedoms. Today we do not see such an uprising against any policy that threatens our freedoms. The passage of the healthcare bill is a shining example of how people have begun to migrate to a state of acceptance.
Even with many polls showing extremely low approval ratings for the bill, the bill managed to be signed into law. If politicians were to show such an act of rebellion against the wishes of the people in the early days of the United States, then there would most likely be extreme repercussions. The people would aim to get the politicians who voted for the bill out of office via peaceful means. Even if the bill were hypothetically great, the political representatives still went against the will of the people by voting for this bill. The house representatives are supposed to be a voice of the people, mirroring the people’s choices.
In one poll, the majority of voters felt that the fight over healthcare was rooted in politics, as opposed to politicians considering the bill to be an important step in the nation’s advancement. This poll also shows that only 37% approve of the bill, which is a conservative estimate. Sure, the majority of people aren’t exactly satisfied with the bill, but how does it limit our ability to be healthy?
Health Freedom
People across the nation use many different forms of “healthcare”. Some choose to take pharmaceuticals and vaccinations in an attempt to treat their conditions. Of course doing so is a risky venture, given the side effects of such treatment, but in the United States you have the ability to pursue whatever treatment you would like. Until the healthcare bill was passed, that is.
Now if you do not believe in heavy usage of pharmaceuticals and vaccinations, then you’re just out of luck. Even while studies have shown the amazing benefits of natural treatments such as Vitamin D, the bill fails to mandate that such preventative medicine should ever be used.
Vitamin D has even been shown to be more effective than vaccinations against the flu. Preventative medicine such as Vitamin D treatment could potentially save thousands of lives, but the healthcare bill instead chooses to treat the diseases after they have struck the patient. Instead of focusing on how to avoid the disease altogether with natural treatment that bears little to no side effects, the insurance companies that wrote the bill have decided to push forward with the failed medical system.
Without even looking in depth at the policy of the bill, it is evident that the bill does not promote health freedom, and totes pharmaceuticals and vaccinations instead. For those who wish to pursue other forms of medicine, or even opt out of healthcare as a whole, this bill restricts your ability to do so. The United States has worked to secure the rights of the individual, which this bill strangles.
Tax Hikes
Besides the strain on health freedom, the bill also consists of a large amount of tax increases. Unfortunately the bill does not simply offer free health care to less fortunate men and women, contrary to what many politicians claimed it would do. There is no such thing as a free lunch. The bill not taxes the middle class in order to offer low-grade healthcare options, but penalizes those who cannot pay for the insurance. The bill levies almost $69 billion more in penalties for those who fail to meet mandates to buy insurance. From tanning services to small businesses, many will be affected by these tax hikes. The Journal of Accountancy boils down some of the taxes:
Excise Tax on Uninsured Individuals – Individuals who fail to maintain minimum essential coverage will be subject to a penalty equal to $750. The fee for an uninsured individual under age 18 is one-half of the adult fee.
Excise Tax on High-Cost Employer Plans – The federal government would impose a 40% tax on the value of employer-sponsored health coverage exceeding certain thresholds. Those levels are projected to be $8,500 for self only and $23,000 for any other level by the year 2013. This excise was announced with fanfare by the White House and labor unions in January and remains in the final bill.
Increase in additional tax on distributions from Health Savings Accounts and Archer Medical Savings Accounts not used for qualified medical expenses – An increase from 10% to 20% on taxes of money in a health savings account not used for qualified medical expenses. For Archer medical savings accounts, an increase from 15% to 20%.
Additional Hospital Insurance Tax on High-Income Taxpayers – High income tax payers, making on a joint return over $250,000 and a standard return over $200,000, are required to pay an additional 0.5% of wages. This applies to both self-employed, and regularly employed individuals.
Fees on Health Plans – A fee applied to all health insurance providers based upon net premiums and any third party fees associated with the administration of those programs. The fees will total $6.7 billion annually. This figure begins at $8 billion in the Reconciliation Act and rises to $14.3 billion by 2018.
Tax on Indoor Tanning Services – The act imposes a 10% tax on amounts paid for indoor tanning services. Like a sales tax, the tax will be collected from the person tanning when payment for the tanning services is made
The healthcare bill quite simply is not a step towards universal healthcare as many see it. Even if you support the idea of fully socialized medicine, this bill does not offer that. The bill was written by the insurance companies, and simply continues to push the failed medicine system with excessive taxes and regulations. It is a shame so many well-meaning people buy into the phony idea that the bill helps the less fortunate. If you truly want to help the less fortunate, teach them about preventative medicine.
It is through proper nutrition and exercise that you can prevent the majority of diseases. With that approach, there is simply no need for vaccinations and pharmaceuticals. Regardless of someone’s approach, they should have the right to refuse a specific method of treatment, even preventative medicine.
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Anthony is the Editor of NaturalSociety, producer, consultant, and seeker of truth. Anthony's work has been read by millions worldwide and is routinely featured on major alternative and mainstream news website alike, like the powerful Drudge Report, NaturalNews, Infowars, and many others. Anthony has appeared, oftentimes routinely, on programs like Russia Today (RT), The Alex Jones Show, Coast to Coast AM, and others. Anthony is also a founding member of Natural Attitude and the creator of the independent political website Storyleak
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