By Haddon Libby
Democrats love the Act because it insures more people and makes insurance more affordable to small businesses and individuals. People who could not get insurance previously due to ‘pre-existing’ conditions, now can. By the way, how someone can have a condition before it exists is a riddle to me – shouldn’t these simply be called conditions?
While few understand how Obamacare works, we are told to give it a chance and government will make it all work. Trying to understand the Act left my head spinning…I wonder if that is covered…and if so, how much is my out of pocket?
Republicans hate the Act because they believe it will bankrupt the United States and is the beginning of the end of Democracy as we know it (which is actually not a Democracy but a Republic that functions more like a Social Corporatocracy) and the beginning of the road to European-styled Socialism or possibly even Totalitarianism. I don’t exactly know what European-styled Socialism is although I do know that many Europeans have style (except for Birkenstocks and lederhosen). As far as Totalitarianism, Obama is not the next Stalin or Hitler.
Many seniors believe Obamacare is bad for the country despite the fact that they are already the beneficiaries of what is essentially Obamacare a/k/a Medicare. I haven’t figured out how someone can be against something that they strongly defend and benefit from. I suppose it is because they want to bogart the benefits. Then again, their concerns could be reasonable in that the government is lowering what it pays to doctors creating a shortage of doctors willing to participate in Medicare and, by extension, Obamacare.
We know that 99.98% of all businesses with more than 50 workers already offer employees health insurance. Why the mandated health insurance is such a worry to those businesses is hard to understand. We might find a hint in how Walmart coaches their employees on how to qualify for government aid such that it costs you and me $1,000 per Walmart employee (per Congressman Alan Grayson) of which they have more than 1 million employees (Social Corporatocracy in action).
Additionally, Unions do not like the Act. One of the reasons might be because the Act creates insurance portability. Stated differently, if you can get the same insurance individually as you can get through the union or a corporation, this eliminates a benefit currently negotiated for you. Each controls you a little less.
The real question in the debate is whether you feel healthcare is a basic human right or a luxury. People receiving Medicare who are against the Act are either selfish or stupid. Why should you have the right to government assisted healthcare while excluding someone else who needs it?
For those who feel that affordable healthcare will bankrupt the country, realize that we currently spend $375 per person per month on our military. The Act at its peak will cost half that. Additionally, this country currently spends more on healthcare per person than any other country on Earth yet 50 million of our 330 million Americans are uninsured and the quality of care does not rank near the top. By better managing costs, we all can have healthcare without bankrupting the country.
In closing, the Obama Administration has done an awful job at explaining the Act. The basic problem with the Act appears to be that they have capped what is paid to doctors without capping what doctors can charge. It doesn’t take a math major to figure out who will make up that shortfall.
While the Act has many good and important elements, its basic math doesn’t add up.
Footnote: If you want to know the financial impact of the Act on you, go to kff.org and use their Health Insurance Subsidy Calculator.
