Would somebody, in a few simple words, easy to understand for the likes of me -i.e. Spanish- the main basic reasons why Obama project of universal healthcare finds such an opposition, even by some of his Democrat pals?
- In addition to the things already mentioned, I'd add three things:
-- Americans, historically, have not trusted big government solutions. This may be changing, but our recent election may indicate it may not be. If Americans culturally were predisposed to collectivism (high taxes, a high social safety net, reduced individual ability to take risk and reap the reward, etc) then I'm sure we'd have universal coverage by now.
-- This is a BIG, expensive issue. The things our government is supposed to do are outlined in our Constitution, as clarified (modified?) by later Supreme Court rulings through the last 200+ years. There's only the slightest hint that the
federal government should be in the business of providing health care. One of the biggest undeniable roles of government is national defense, and we spend less than 5% of our GDP on that. So, a proposal that has the federal government directing the distribution/spending of 16%+ of our GDP without a very clear constitutional reason is cause for concern among some (but probably a minority of) Americans.
-- This is a one-way street, and we want to get it right. It is permanent. We know from experience that once these kind of government programs are in place, they are impossible to rescind or change significantly. This is known among liberals who favor the plan (which is why they are applying tremendous pressure to push it through
quickly, even if the public backlash costs their party control of Congress in 2010. Once in place it cannot be undone) and conservatives (who know that if a crummy plan is put into place we'll be stuck with it forever). We have some big programs that are far more expensive and giant than they were ever supposed to be, and a lot of people are afraid that we can't afford one more botch-up. If the program
starts out huge and unaffordable, what will the future hold?
I'm sure most Americans want everyone to have the ability to get basic medical care. We want to do it in a way consistent with our values and our view of how the world works.