According to New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, more than half of New Yorkers are overweight. So officials believe requiring restaurant chains to list the calorie content of their entrees will prevent 150,000 New Yorkers from becoming obese and will stop another 30,000 from developing diabetes and other health concerns over the next five years.

Of course, they are wrong; the premise is all wrong.  Forcing restaurants to convey the government’s message on calories will do absolutely nothing to stop obesity or diabetes except in those individuals who are concerned about their health problems and already working to reverse them. It’s definitely not the government’s business to regulate personal weight or health issues.

Nevertheless, U.S. District Judge Richard Holwell thought it seemed reasonable to expect that consumers would “use the information disclosed ... to select lower calorie meals ... and these choices will lead to a lower incidence of obesity." (One wonders just how familiar he is with human nature in general.)

The requirement goes into effect on April 21 for those establishments or chains that have 15 or more branches. It doesn’t apply to individual restaurants – yet.  Fines for non-compliance will begin on June 3. There’s always revenue to be gained, isn’t there?

(For those who are wondering, “mental hygiene” has nothing to do with cleanliness of the mind. It is defined as the branch of psychiatry concerned with psychological methods.)
 

Having the nation’s first universal health care plan foisted upon them, taxpayers in Massachusetts are feeling the effects. With a July 2007 target date for implementation, the State of Massachusetts has already fined 97,000 citizens for failure to obtain health insurance, with the State of Massachusetts being the decider in determining who could or could not afford health care insurance, based on a review of one’s 2007 tax returns.

For a first offense, the fine is a forfeiture of a personal exemption worth $219. But, monthly penalties for those who can afford health care and continually refuse will skyrocket and could be as much as $912 by December!

The plan is unjust, oppressive, and the penalties harsh, but then that’s the point. Denying citizens the right to decide their own method of caring for themselves, and forcing them to partake of a government program is socialism. Shades of an Orwellian bureaucratic department easily come to mind — “Citizens of Massachusetts, you will obtain health insurance,”  -The Ministry of Health.

Governor Deval Patrick is pleased with the “progress,” and noted that 95 percent of all tax filers now have insurance. In a glowing report paid for by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the Commonwealth Fund, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation — conflict of interest?? — Sharon Long noted that out-of-pocket expenses for health care dropped by four percent.  Well they would drop if people are forced into paying premiums that they didn’t have before, and are therefore making claims through their insurer. She did admit that lawmakers are struggling to find ways to cover the soaring costs of the law. “The continued challenge of health reform requires the continued support of the population.”  Translation — we’re taking whatever money from your pockets that we deem necessary to run the program, now and forever, Amen.

Years ago the tag line to a scenario like this might read “only in Massachusetts,” but now it would read more like “coming to your state very soon.”

For an excellent and detailed article on the many faceted problems of government-run health care please visit “Fractured Healthcare,” by Dr. Jane Orient.