Universal Health Care Yields Nanny State?

El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula, better known as L.A., has passed an ordinance banning new fast food restaurants from setting up shop in poor neighborhoods where a large number of citizens depend on government-provided health care.

I'm torn on this one. The opinion piece's author, John Stossel, makes the excellent point that when government is pulling the purse strings on health care then it is, indeed, it its interests to regulate more and more of our lives in order to reduce the costs. Like him, I am concerned deeply about this ridiculous intrusion into the free market and personal choice. It's conflicting, though.

I am a supporter of the idea of the "safety net" and definitely feel that government help should exist for individuals who are incapable of working due to disability or illness, or to temporarily paper-over the time when someone is actively looking for a job. That being said, there has to be a way of providing basic medical services to individuals in poverty without these sorts of intrusions into their private lives, things like incentivizing weight loss and paying for primary and preventative care.

No French Fries For You
ABC News

The bureaucrats are worried about your health. They don't think you're making good decisions about what to eat. So, to stop you from eating things that are bad for you, the Los Angeles city council has proposed legislation to forbid the opening of any new fast food restaurants in parts of the city that have high rates of diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. The ban would last for the next two years.

Incredible, right? The city government will dictate the kind of restaurants that may open? It sounds more like communist Russia than southern California, but this is what happens when the government pays the bills for our health care. They think that gives them the right to order us around -- in the name of taking charge of our health.

The neighborhoods where the Los Angeles bureaucrats propose to ban new restaurants are all in the "inner-city" of south Los Angeles. A higher percentage of the people in those neighborhoods live in poverty and that means more of them use government money (Medicaid) to pay for their health care. Government pays the medical bill.

If government pays for our health care, then government officials have a bigger stake in monitoring our health. It's another reason I'm wary of all the politicians of today who demand more government fixes to our health care system.