Demand

So, let’s say you can’t have children.  Or maybe you don’t want children.  One is a lack of ability, the other a choice.  

And now, let’s pretend that the government mandates that everyone must have at least one child and if you don’t have at least one child, you’ll be fined or put in prison.  

This poses several problems as I see it:  The people who can’t have children must either adopt (what if they don’t meet the qualifications?) or go through painful and expensive medical procedures to conceive a child (they still may not be able to conceive a child).  The people who don’t want children are being forced to care for and maintain something they don’t desire. It’s also a problem that assumes that everyone is qualified to be a parent and that being a parent is a need for the populace.

Of course then there’s the question of complying with the law:  does every person need to have a child; or just each ‘family’?  What constitutes a family?  Does blood or genetics or marriage (civil or otherwise) make a family?  Can you provide a child for a member of your family up to a certain age (i.e. it is not their child, but your ‘extra children’ cover their need)?  Are there age limits – will you need to have a child if you are 50?  60?  70?  

And there is the question of who pays?  Who pays for the procedures, the medical and educational needs?  Does everyone pay the same amount?  Will people that are proven as unsafe to children be exempt from the mandate?  Will they still have to pay?

Seem unfair?  Socialistic?  Intrusive? 

Demanding that every person have healthcare is much like requiring everyone to have a child.  Some people don’t want health care at all, some want more and some want less.  Some don’t qualify for coverage and some qualify for everything but don’t need it all.  And some wouldn’t go to the doctor even if they had coverage.  

Should everyone have healthcare?  Yes.  Is it a right?  No.  Requiring health coverage is as absurd as demanding that every person have a car or a pet or a mortgage.  Or a child.