Birth control is tip of health care surprises

We have recently witnessed an almost comedic staredown between the Obama administration and the Catholic Church involving mandated birth control coverage under the Affordable Health Care for America Act. The church predates this presidency by two millennia. It rules its own sovereign nation-state, outlasted the Roman Empire, countless kingdoms and potentates and survived manifold spiritual and temporal challenges. The “hope and change” president and his agenda are tiny figures against that vast backdrop. Fittingly, it was not the church that blinked.

Hardly missing a beat, the administration merely transferred the burden to insurance carriers by fiat, an action of dubious constitutionality.

This spectacle is likely just the tip of the iceberg. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously declared, “ ... we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” We are now starting to “find out.” Expect more such turbulence as waves of synthetic entitlements begin crashing against long cherished liberties and values, as the federal government commandeers one sixth of the nation's economy.

What will emerge over the decades will be a convoluted mass of layered patches, exceptions and special provisions, likely even eclipsing that other hideous legislative labyrinth, the U.S. tax code.

Dale Fitzgibbons

Cedar Rapids