Has Your County Health Department Infringed the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment?

http://www.ohiolibertycoalition.org ^ | 5.16.12 | Sally Kerwood and Jason Mihalick

[Whenifhow]

In our county that’s exactly the question we are pondering – and now researching – after the Knox County 912 Patriots recently hosted an information session on an upcoming November Knox County health levy. The featured speakers at the information session were the Knox County Health Department (KCHD) Commissioner and Public Information Officer (PIO). In 2011, according to a handout from the KCHD, the department spent nearly $3 million ($2,983,295 to be exact) and took in just over $2.9 million ($2,908,269) for a shortfall of approximately $75 thousand. Sounds like they need to make a some cuts, right? Oh no, think again, you silly, silly fiscal conservative! It really just means they haven’t spent enough yet. It means (drumroll please) … we NEED a bigger levy! You see, if they just spend more — in order to meet the “increased demand” for their “free” services — then that’s just like an “investment” back in the community. Don’t get it yet? Well … that’s because you don’t understand how a finely tuned government machine really works. By giving the health department more money (well, they are actually taking it, but don’t worry about that) they can do more education in the community and that leads to healthier residents which will help boost the local economy. What’s that? You say you still don’t understand? Well … that’s just because you hate your neighbors and you want them all to die. You are definitely one of those people in the 1% that we’ve heard about on NBC.

Sounds pretty bad doesn’t it? Well, although those weren’t the exact statements made, they are the implications of many statements that were actually made in the meeting to some individuals in our watchdog group. Statements from the Commissioner such as “I want to support the health department programs because I want to help my neighbors” — implying, of course, that we don’t want to help them. But we can handle attempts to intimidate, can’t we? What we can’t handle is the absence of logic, which leads us into the discussion about the new levy that Knox county health department is proposing. What we learned was very enlightening – and very frightening.

The KCHD is seeking a five year 0.8 mil levy, not the 0.4 mil replacement as in the past. It is estimated the amount of tax revenue from the new levy will be $930,000 annually. As we said, right now the KCHD has an annual deficit of approximately $75,000. Per the Commissioner, the extra income from the levy is to be used for education, more diabetes prevention, and as a “cushion”. There was also mention of mapping all the septic tanks and water wells in the county. Why would this be necessary? Emergency preparedness was cited. 9/11 was mentioned a couple of times as justification for some programs. Hmmm, does the ol’ quote

Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.

come to mind?

The KCHD offers a number of “Family & Community Health Services”. Fees for the medical services offered at the KCHD are paid by the consumer on an income based “sliding scale”. There is a medical clinic, dental clinic, home health, smoking cessation classes (that gives out free nicotine replacement therapy) and other services too numerous to list here. None of these services are self-supporting according to Commissioner Miller.

After reviewing the Ohio Revised Code chapters listed below it is clear that the KCHD is operating outside of their scope of responsibilities and is redistributing our wealth to accomplish – here is the frightening part – their principles. (We will get to their principles shortly)!

The Ohio Revised Code (ORC) contains all acts passed by the Ohio General Assembly and signed by the governor. This basically means all the LAWS that have been enacted by the legislature of Ohio.

State Department of Health – Established by ORC Chapter 3701 consisting of a Director of Health and a Public Health Council. This section also establishes the powers and duties of each.

Local Boards of Health – Established by ORC Chapter 3709 which outlines the powers of the local Boards of Health including nuisance abatement and communicable disease control.

Local Health Districts – Established by ORC Chapter 3709, powers and duties of Boards of Health and Health Commissioners are outlined in ORC Chapter 3707.

Now for those scary principles. The following is taken word for word from the KCHD brochure:

We Serve Everyone

Services at the Knox County Health Department are available to everyone, regardless of income, age, race or sex. We serve everyone; the poor and the wealthy; the young and the old, the insured, the uninsured and the under-insured.

The Principles of Public Health Workers are:

We believe in social justice in health. (the greatest good for the greatest number; fairness) We advocate for others. We believe good health care is a right. (Not just that health care is a right, but that everyone deserves good health care.) We believe in the equality of access. (Everyone should be able to find and receive health care) We believe in government’s responsibility to provide protection.

These are not the principles of a free people that believe in liberty and individual responsibility. These are the principles of communism. The phrase “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”, quoted from Karl Marx, co-founder of communism, is what we thought of when we read these words.

We will also point out again that healthcare in not a right! We have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If health care will make you happy … pursue it, but not on our dime. At the federal level it is not the government’s job to “provide protection” except to defend this country from invasion. At the local level, we have city police and the county sheriff to “provide protection”. Does your local health department want police powers? Good question.

The fact that this philosophy has so pervaded our country – that a government entity would publish this collectivist propaganda – is truly revealing about the state of The United States of America.

So how does all of this pertain to the Healthcare Freedom Amendment? The question you should be looking into is, since March 19, 2010 has your local health department implemented any new programs that are compelling directly or indirectly, any person, employer, or health care provider to participate in a health care system? If so, there is an organization that would sure like to know. As for us, we’ll be looking into it in Knox county.

If you have any leads in your county for healthcare related programs which have been created since March 19, 2010 please let us know by filling out the form below:

[Whenifhow]

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[OneLoyalAmerican]

Greetings Whenifhow:

Wow. Had no idea things were this far out of control in Knox County.

Pray for our republic,
OLA