This week, the White House launched its Reality Check page, which is supposed to “debunk” popular “myths” about healthcare “reform.

For example: “Reality Check: Reform will eliminate insurance discrimination against the disabled.” And: “Reform will stop ‘rationing’ – not increase it.” And: “Reform will benefit small business – not burden it.”

Note all those quotation marks I used…because reality says that forcing insurance companies to cover everyone, regardless of their health, only encourages risky behavior (why not smoke, if someone else is going to pay for your lung cancer treatment? why not overeat, if someone else is paying for your diabetes medication?) and forces the healthy to subsidize the sick. Reality says that when demand exceeds supply, not everybody can have what they want — and if it’s not the free market that decides (by determining a price at which the number of willing sellers matches the number of willing buyers), it’s going to be a bureaucrat, by…rationing care! Reality says that if you increase the tax burden on businesses, it’s the mom-and-pop shops, the small businesses for whom a “small” tax increase could mean the difference between staying open and closing their doors, who will go under.

It’s true that a reality check is needed. But it’s the President who needs one the most.

reasonpharm.blogspot.com