Liberty or Socialism?

Recently there was a bill in front of the Legislature in Mississippi that would outlaw serving obese people in restaurants. The bill, according to its originator, was to bring attention to the fact that obese people were becoming a big burden on government because it was driving up health care costs.

Now this seems very interesting to me for several reasons. How is a restaurant owner suppose to determine what is obese? Does everyone get weighed and a BMI calculated before ordering? If they tell someone they are obese, do you think that person would ever frequent that restaurant again? If the owner does serve someone that is obese, could they be arrested or fined?

The second issue I see around this legislation is the one where government is now legislating behaviors. There are huge costs to the government since they are picking up nearly half of all health care expenditures today. Naturally they would want to do something to hold down those costs. After all, we have a responsible bunch of politicians watching every penny we send to them.

The real concern here is actually not the cost (although it is huge) but rather the loss of liberty Americans could face if we truly pursue a "nationalized" health care program. Since the government is paying for your health care, they feel they should be free to tell us what we can and cannot do. Drinking alcohol (liver disease), smoking (lung and heart disease), watching TV (heart disease), eating salty snacks (hypertension), sweet desserts(diabetes) and who knows what would be next. All of this done in the name of your good health (and lower costs).

How is this policy different than today? Well, insurance companies price the risk associated with the proposed "banned" behaviors and other factors that would effect their costs and then price the policy accordingly for each indidual or company. The government on the other hand, will have a one size fits all approach that will actually fit no one.

Fortunately the Mississippi Legislature failed to pass this bill. However, the fact that it was even considered let's you know where the politicians minds are. This alone should scare us all.