I recently read that someone objected to Mr. Obama’s plan for national health insurance because doctors will not be paid well–and therefore will refuse to take “Obamacare” patients. This is a naive sentiment. Government has the power of force. Government is not the same as Cigna, Aetna or Blue Cross Blue Shield. These private companies–while very heavily regulated by the government, and often told what to do by the government–do not have the power of government coercion. Doctors will have no choice but to accept national health insurance. If they don’t like the terms … Tough! First, government will squeeze out what’s left of the free market by giving everyone a “free” insurance plan paid for by the “evil rich” while regulating the remaining private insurance companies into the ground. When national health insurance is the only game in town, doctors will either take the uniform government plan, or none at all. Patients will feel: “My government said I have a right to this care. This doctor is obligated to help me–no different from a police officer.” Of course, some doctors will find clever ways to get around this. That’s the American way, and they will. Then, the next step for government will be simply to outlaw all transactions between doctors and patients that are not first approved by the government. This is exactly what Hillary Clinton proposed years ago, and what Mr. Obama claims not to be peddling today. He keeps insisting, “You will still have choice, you will still have choice!” and he knows full well it’s a lie. The American Medical Association–who could blow the whistle on all this, now–should know better. Clearly, their problem is not lack of intelligence; it’s sheer moral cowardice, of the ugliest kind. In the decades-old health care “debate,” we have come full circle. Or is it a downward spiral?