Obamacare….One More Time!

The writer who wrote recently  to the Post and Courier (April 24) pointing out what he believes to be positive features of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly called Obamacare) left out several key issues, which have led majority of the public to oppose it, according to most polls.

Nancy Pelosi, former House Speaker, famously declared, “We have to pass the (health care) bill so that you can find out what is in it.” The Democrat majorities in Congress passed it (not a single Republican supporting it) with several admitting to not having even read it.  So much for measured and responsible crafting of legislation with bipartisan participation.

It would seem true that all Americans, regardless of political affiliation or leanings, would want to improve our health care system, from having access to affordable insurance and to quality care givers, to being charged reasonable costs, and on and on. With Obamacare, we were promised by the president and congressional majority leaders that it would “reduce spiraling health care costs;” “not add one penny to the deficit;” allow citizens to “keep your doctor;” “keep your current insurance;” “lower your premiums;” “provide affordable coverage to all Americans;” “prevent insurance companies from dropping your coverage if you get sick;” “prevent insurers from excluding you due to preexisting conditions;” “lower administrative costs;” “improve care with computerized medical records.” What is not to like?

Obamacare has many provisions and results “not to like”, and here are just a few:

• Reduces funding for Medicare by almost $600 billion, just as a flood of older citizens are becoming eligible
• Requires all doctors to enter your private health information into a government database, and doctors will be under strict guidelines as to what treatment options that unelected bureaucrats deem to be cost effective and appropriate
• Beginning in 2014, employers with 50 or more full-time employees will be fined $2000 per year per employee if they do not offer insurance or if an employee enrolls in their own “qualified” plan.
• The Congressional budget office estimated in March that Obamacare will cost, as the letter writer stated, $176 billion a year. This compares rather unfavorably with the $94 billion that Congress and the president told us at the time the bill was passed

The worst thing about Obamacare is that contains the “individual mandate”, requiring all of us to buy health insurance, thus abrogating our right to make our own choices about  our medical treatments. Fortunately, there is a Constitutional provision that bans the federal government from forcing citizens to buy something, and this was revently argued before the US Supreme Court. This mandate is not the same thing as states requiring drivers to purchase car insurance, as many have argued. Our Constitution limits the FEDERAL government, not state governments, from mandating such things, and further, not everyone drives a vehicle, and thus, a citizen could opt not to purchase car insurance by simply deciding not to drive. In the Obamacare world, however, no citizen can ‘opt out.’  To add further insult, those citizens that refuse to participate will be forced to pay a fine.

It is worth noting that members of Congress, many congressional staff and other government employees (including the president) have been exempted from the provisions of Obamacare. To date, the Department of Health and Human Services has granted “waivers” (exemptions) to over 1,200 organizations, covering over 4 million people.  What’s not to like, indeed!

Hopefully, the Supreme Court will rule the individual mandate feature of Obamacare unconstitutional, the entire bill will be repealed, and we can move on to creating legislation for real and affordable health care improvements.

Read more at The Charleston Tea Party