[EDITORIAL]Obamacare - Wrong idea with the right intentions?

Post Reply New Topic

The Affordable Care Act is being thrown around just as much as slang these days. President Obama's agenda to get everyone in the United States some form of healthcare is a patriotic goal, and there are certainly people out there who need it. Those who have been denied health coverage because of pre-existing conditions are now able to breathe easy, because they have - or they will have - health insurance.

However, not everything is as it seems.

The most obvious problem is the overall function of the website itself (healthcare.gov). Many people - Republicans in particular - fear that the website's security is compromised. Also, the lack of communication with president Obama over the status of the website itself is raising a few red flags. President Obama had promised that people could keep their current healthcare plans if they so wished, but insurance companies are doing away with the ones which don't meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act, including currently active plans. He has since then issued an apology to those affected, but more could be done than an apology for something that he should have anticipated, even if his sources assured him that nothing would have happened. One good quote for what should have been done: "Expect the worst, hope for the best."

It's not like Obamacare should be completely scrapped, it should just be modified to fit everyone's needs. Republicans have brought up a few good points about the reliability of the website, which could be fixed with the right intel. But more importantly, president Obama and the Obama Administration need to focus on solving their problems quickly and securely, getting much needed healthcare to those who need it so desperately.

However, one question remains: if healthcare should be an inalienable right, why should we all have to pay for health coverage in the first place?

Why not open the market up to competition ( imports and IP overhauls) and lower the price to the point where people can pay for their medical products themselves? And make the dollar actually worth something again?

Good points. I'm sure some officials would have an overly-complicated answer-that's-not-really-an-answer.

I guess they just don't want to simplify things without causing drama. They'd rather spend billions of dollars in areas they don't need to be spending it (our military budget being a fine example, if you ask me) instead of budgeting that money and putting it where people really need it.

because the corporations that own our political system make a shedload of money keeping things just the way they are. Have you looked at what the (leaked) proposed TPP agreement would do to medicine?

That was actually one of the goals of the ACA as it was being written. The competition between the insurance companies to grab up as many of the tens of millions of new customers and the side by side comparisons (that are supposed to be available) are supposed to cause the insurance companies to start lowering premiums to compete with each other. Whether it works out that way or not is another story, though.

After taking a hard look at the law, I'm not even sure I'd give credit for good intent.

Just for my own curiosity, where do you think the government should be spending that money? Where do you think that people need it?

Personally, I still cannot believe that we still don't (quite yet) have universal health care. Most other countries have it, why not us? It just boggles the mind.

Why don't people just pay cash (or equivalent) for health care? Right now the whole thing is a big racket aimed at squeezing money out of people who don't have it, and making up reasons why THAT GUY OVER THERE should pay, but not this insurance co, all to make a few CEOs and doctors insanely rich. Why can't medical school be paid for by the govt if the new doc will commit five years to working in the inner city or a rural area? We already do this, sort of, with teachers. Medical school is so expensive that every new grad wants to work in Beverly Hills or another rich area doing narrow specialties that pay a lot. In fact, we've gotten to the point where kids won't study medicine AT ALL because of debt, making for a doctor shortage. In fact, kids are refusing to go to college or work, because we've made both options dead ends with participants raped for every last plugged nickel. Ever hear of gutter punks? A lot of kids are simply taking to the road. The Great Depression lives.

I have not looked into specifics, but from the little I do read of it, I am worried. And thus why I think either way we are screwed, with or without a central government. I would rather make my own decisions.

Most other countries don't have our massive and diverse population, our hugely expensive military, or our competing insurance co vs health care provider cold war that jacks up the prices. There's a bunch of other factors too, culture and the cost of medical school coming to mind, but those are some of the big ones.

My wife works in a hospital and we know quite a few physicians. Some of the older ones now plan to retire early. Others are looking into concierge medicine: subscribers will pay an annual retainer, which will cover catastrophic care; checkups and minor procedures will be done on a fee-for-service basis. And the doctors won't have to accept insurance patients at all.

I think some people are going to discover that there's a big difference between "having coverage" and actually finding a doctor to treat them. Look for nurse practitioners to be given much more authority to diagnose and prescribe.

This is an ongoing problem now. My sister can't find any doctor taking on new patients for her health care plan. So, she goes to an urgent care center when she needs care for her or her kids. Not as bad as going to the ER, but more expensive (generally) than a family doctor. The ACA only makes this worse as many family doctors don't know what they are going to do to deal with what the ACA will impose on their practices.

The ACA imposes exactly ZERO requirements for doctors. It puts requirements on health insurers and a few on all citizens, and that is it. The ACA does not come between a patient and a doctor. It comes between insurance companies and questionable practices. The most recent changes that negatively affect doctors are the reductions and new restrictions placed on Medicare reimbursement by some of our esteemed Republican members of congress granted by Democrats in an effort at budgetary compromise.

Determining whether or not government is evil or just incompetent is a never ending struggle. Is it just a coincidence that the insurance companies are going to be on the receiving end of a massive windfall from all the new 'customers' that are forced to buy their product?

Isn't this what we had (open markets for insurance) before Obama Care? It wasn't working very well for most people.