Don't Like Obamacare? Just Opt Out

"If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures," Fitzgerald's fictional character, Nick Carraway, said of The Great Gatsby, "then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life..."

The same could be said of President Obama, whose personality and "heightened sensitivity" has gotten him far. But ultimately, presidents must do things, and this president has attempted to do things at an amazing pace. His signature domestic policy, of course, is health care reform, which he thinks could be his defining moment. He says "stars are aligned" and he seems to be pulling out all the stops, including the elaborate staging of a "town hall" meeting -- televised this week on ABC -- to rally public support for the issue.

President Obama supports a public option, where a government health care plan would compete with private insurers. A government plan, backers say, would give consumers more choice and prompt private insurers to improve their coverage.

But conservatives believe the notion that private enterprise can "compete" with a government that sets the rules is absurd. They argue that the so-called public option will result in anything but free market competition. What's more, many see a public option as luring the nation toward a government-run system that would ration care if times get tough.

But just as conservatives are attempting to rally the troops against Obama's plan, an idea is springing up from the libertarian/conservative policy world, which encourages individuals to "opt out" of any national health care plan.

Modeled on the National Do Not Call Registry, the Social Security Institute, a 501(c)(4) organization, recently announced an online effort, http://www.patientoptout.com, to "allow individuals to sign up on the National ObamaCare Opt Out Registry."

The "Patient Opt Out" form, which citizens are being encouraged to sign, says:

"I, the undersigned citizen of the United States, demand that the U.S. Congress keep the government out of my health care decisions. Furthermore, if government-mandated health care should be enacted in any form by Congress and signed into law by President Obama, I insist that I be excluded from any government-run or mandated health care program and exempt from any and all taxes, fees and mandates imposed to pay for it."

Texas Congressman Ron Paul was recently on Fox News talking about a similar idea.

But opting out is not the only possibility being floated. Citing the 10th Amendment, several states are considering initiatives which would let them opt out of federal health care. This strikes me as as the avenue that has a chance of success.

But back to the opt out movement. Conservatives may initially like the idea, but if it gains momentum, it could undermine serious efforts to block national health care, and remove the incentive for grassroots conservatives to mobilize.

Conservative activists who believe states or individuals can "opt out" of national health care may be lulled to sleep. After all, why mobilize to stop Obama's health care plan today if you think you can merely opt out of it tomorrow?

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