"Health Happens in Neighborhoods and with Prevention" is the name of Governor Brown's state-sponsored initiative to improve the quality of health and the prolongation of life in certain regions of the state of California.
These naive initiative betray the fecklessness of progressive exuberance, self-convinced to political myopia that one more law, one more mandate, one more directive will make everything all better.
AB 581 legislates that more grocery stores by built in impoverished and troubled neighborhoods. However, who is going to invest the money in a region where high-crime rates scare customers and invite serial shop-lifting? Economic realities dictate why certain areas discourage merchants from setting up shop, and no amount of political fiat is going to change that.
AB 210 ensures that maternity covers is available for women when they need it. Will this program extend these benefits to mothers who are not married? Such a move only exacerbates the legitimacy problem which plagues many dysfunctional families, and breeds poverty.
ABX1 21 maintains health coverage for youth through the Healthy Families Program. The ad in the LA Times specifically states that Prevention is a major part of the Governor's new program. How does expanding easy access to health care encourage prevention? If an over price system were tether to health care, affordable as long as competitive, individuals would be more inclined to care for themselves, eating properly and exercising regularly, thus diminishing the number of times that a person would need to see the doctor or visit the hospital for an extended stay.
Attorney Kamala Harris has filed an Amicus Brief supporting ObamaCare. The Federal Health Care will only increase the number of demands on a system crashing from a lack of supply. Nothing more demonstrates the irony of "if you think health care is expensive, just wait till it's free" then a health insurance mandate which fines those who do not get health insurance, which will subsidize those too poor to purchase health insurance for themselves.
Consumers need less regulation, not more, if we want to encourage people to take better care of themselves. Rather than offering more opportunities to depend on the state, we must discourage government involvement in our lives, thus permitting people to rely on their resources, invest their time and energy as they see fit, and prosper themselves more effectively.