Edwards: Force Americans to Visit Doctor

John Edwards envisions a universal health care program in which those in the system would be required by the government to have physicals and mammograms.

The plan will cost at least $120 billion and supposedly be paid for by ending President Bush's tax cuts for citizens who make more than $200,000 a year. (Apparently Edwards doesn't realize that when you raise taxes, tax receipts go down...)

So let's think about this. "Universal" means everyone in the country is envisioned to be in the plan. Billions and billions of our dollars will be confiscated to pay for the plan. Once the government has taken your money and you're in the plan, you must obey the government's edicts as far as healthcare.

The government controlling health and dietary choices is part of the "nanny state creep" we're already seeing, where states justify things like banning transfats because they are alleged to be costing taxpayers healthcare dollars. The mandated physicals will doubtless be just the tip of the iceberg for further state control of healthcare and lifestyle choices, justified because the state would be paying for resulting medical care.

Edwards thinks this sounds like a wonderful plan. I think it sounds scary -- not to mince words, but Communistic and totalitarian.

And therein lies the difference between liberals and conservatives.

Monday Update: Thoughts from Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters, who notes the astonishing lack of mainstream media coverage for Edwards' plan. The story didn't make the New York Times, Washington Post, or Los Angeles Times, for starters.