The United States Preventive Services Task Force recently recommended mandatory
depression screening for all Americans. The task force wants to force health
insurance companies to pay for the screening. Basic economics, as well as the
Obamacare disaster, should have shown this task force that government health
insurance mandates harm Americans.
Government health insurance mandates raise the price of health insurance.
Consumers will respond to this increase by either choosing to not carry health
insurance or by reducing their consumption of other goods and services. Imposing
new health insurance mandates will thus make consumers, many of whom are already
suffering from Obamacare's costly mandates, worse off by forcing them to deviate
from their preferred consumption patterns.
Mandatory depression screening will not just raise insurance costs. In order
to ensure that the screening mandate is being properly implemented, the government
will need to create a database containing the results of the screenings. Those
anti-gun politicians who want to forbid anyone labeled "mentally ill" from
owning a firearm will no doubt want to use this database as a tool to deprive
individuals of their Second Amendment rights.
If the preventive task force has its way, Americans could lose their Second
Amendment, and possibly other, rights simply because they happened to undergo
their mandatory depression screening when they were coping with a loved one's
passing or a divorce, or simply having a bad day. As anyone who has been mistakenly
placed on the terrorist watch list can attest, it is very difficult to get
off a government database even when the government clearly is in error. Thus,
anyone mistakenly labeled as depressed will have to spend a great deal of time
and money in what may be a futile attempt to get his rights back.
Mandatory depression screening will endanger people's health by increasing
the use of psychotropic drugs. These drugs often have dangerous side effects.
Their use has even been linked to suicide. The fact that almost every mass
shooter was on psychotropic drugs is another good reason to oppose any policy
that will increase reliance on these medicines.
The Preventive Services Task Force's mandatory depression screening mandate
is based on the fallacy that diagnosing mental health problems is analogous
to diagnosing cancer or diabetes. Even mental health professionals acknowledge
that there is a great deal of subjectivity in mental health diagnosis.
Consider that until 1973 homosexuality was considered a mental disorder by
the American Psychiatric Association. Today, some mental health professionals
think that those who believe in limited government, free-market economics,
or traditional values suffer from mental disorders. If mandatory depression
screening becomes a reality, it is likely this mental health screening will
be expanded to cover screening for other mental illnesses. This could result
in anyone with an unpopular political belief or lifestyle choice being labeled
as "mentally ill."
Even if mandatory health screening could be implementing without increasing
costs or threatening liberty it would still be a bad idea. Government health
care mandates undermine the basic principles of a free society. If it is legitimate
for government to tell us what types of health care we must receive, then it
is also legitimate for the government to tell us what to eat, when to exercise,
and even how to raise our children. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, a tyranny imposed
for our own good is the worst form of tyranny because it is a tyranny without
limits. All who love liberty must therefore oppose mandatory depression screening,
or any other health care mandate.
