There is plenty to dislike in Obamacare, the nation’s now Supreme Court-approved health-care program.
There’s the loss of freedom that occurs whenever the government forces an individual to purchase a good or service, in this
case health insurance ... or, worse, when it forces others to pay for that good or service for others.
There’s the loss of freedom that occurs when the government leaps over the division between church and state and attempts
to coerce churches to act against their own moral principles. Obamacare does that in the cases of reproductive rights and
services and certain religions.
Then again, there is something to
desire in what Obamacare enthusiasts say about its purported upsides:
full coverage for
the poor, including working poor, and for their children. It would
take a cold heart to turn away the sick because they are
impoverished. Some 350,000 Louisianians might benefit from the
plan, and perhaps a half-million, by some estimates.
That said, there is still much to know
about the Affordable Care Act, which is a many-headed monster. Gov.
Bobby Jindal, with
a political background steeped in health care issues, may make an
excellent stand-in on this issue on the campaign trail for
Mitt Romney, the Republicans’ presidential hope in the fall
campaign. Jindal has spent much of the last two weeks up north,
touting Romney as the Obamacare antedote.
But back home in Louisiana, people
might like for themselves to hear what Jindal, their elected state chief
executive, has
to say about the issue. Not everyone is fully opposed to the
Affordable Care Act; not everyone is fully in favor. Beyond broad
philosophical disagreements, what are Jindal’s specific objections
to the act? What would he improve? The governor has written
on this topic for national publications; in the wake of the
Supreme Court decision, why not talk to Louisianians?
In an analysis published in these
pages, the Associated Press’ Melinda Deslatte rightly noted that Jindal
ought to make his
case against Obamacare here to the people who elected him. After
all, Jindal has flatly stated that he will not take the steps
to put Obamacare in place in Louisiana, and his decision may have
some profound impact on this state’s uninsured residents.
Instead, Jindal has said he will work to elect Romney as president
and repeal Obamacare, which Romney has said he would do.
That is just what Jindal has done of
late, taking to the road to tell folks in places like Ohio and
Pennsylvania why Obamacare
is wrongheaded. But voters who re-elected Jindal in 2011 did not
necessarily cast their ballots against the Affordable Care
Act or for Romney. And if Romney loses, what then? Louisianians
might want to know.
This editorial was written by a member of the American Press Editorial Board. Its content reflects the collaborative opinion of the Board, whose members include Bobby Dower, Ken Stickney,
Jim Beam, Dennis Spears, Crystal Stevenson and Donna Price.