Guest AuthorThere are 2,700 pages of the Affordable Care Act that can be condensed into one word: Obamacare.
To insure the uninsured, we first make some of the insured uninsured and then make them pay more to be insured again. In some cases, people have had to buy a policy they can’t afford despite the subsidies Obamacare provides.
Nancy Pelosi said we had to pass it to find out what was in it. They passed it. We read it. It stinks. A bill filled with pork, something both parties said they would not do and is an unworkable attempt at national health care.
The only reasonable solution is to repeal it, something that hopefully be achieved after an election or two. The mislabeled “Affordable Care Act,” though perhaps well intended, is beyond repair.
So far, the Oval Office brags that more than 8 million people have signed up through the federal and state exchanges. However, not all of them have purchased coverage. That’s like buying a seat in the stadium, but not showing up for the ballgame.
Conservatives have warned that Obamacare would be expensive, lead to lost hours and pay for workers and generally fail to live up to its promises. Such concerns were dismissed by liberals.
Since 2010, the critics have largely been proven right. Obamacare threatens the middle class with higher premiums. Some poor workers have been shifted to part-time work and now have less health care coverage.
One of President Obama’s greatest political challenges has been hiding the fact that Obamacare is largely financed by siphoning huge sums of money out of Medicare, mainly by cutting Medicare Advantage. Talk about smoke and mirrors.
The CBO projects that, over the next decade, about $1 trillion that would otherwise have been spent on Medicare will be rerouted to Obamacare. That represents more than 10 percent of Medicare’s entire projected funding, which helps explain why Medicare’s Office of the Actuary has projected that, by 2020, Medicare will reimburse doctors and other health care providers at lower rates than Medicaid.
Imagine if Obama had pitched Obamacare by saying, “Folks, we’re going to pass health reform, and to pay for it, we’re going to divert more than 10 percent of the money that’s projected to be spent on Medicare.”
That pitch would have made Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech look like a triumph of political rhetoric. But, as the CBO notes, that’s exactly what Obamacare will do.
All of this points to the need to repeal the monstrosity that is Obamacare. And it points to the need to advance a well-conceived conservative alternative to pave the way to full repeal.
But, if we are able to repeal it, we should not stop there, because the status quo is a status no.
Health care is so much different than in the days when general practitioners made house calls. People today are living longer — 10 years longer than life expectancy in the 1950s and largely it is a result of modern medicine.
Today’s medical personnel are a cross between engineers and nuclear physicists. Hospitals treat with equipment costing in the millions.
Today’s medical treatment is effective, but far from cheap. Who is going to pay the bill? Very few of us can afford sophisticated medical care and we need a third party to pick up the bill.
I believe in the free enterprise system. If one studies longer, works harder, takes more risk and invests more money, then he or she should live in a better house, drive a better car and live a better lifestyle. That is the American way.
However, I believe Americans are compassionate. And, I believe that no American should be denied adequate health care because they can’t afford to pay for it.
When I served as Jeb Bush’s first Statewide Public Guardian, I saw first hand what happens to people who don’t have access to care. It is inhumane. It is an embarrassment and it is happening.
The Affordable Care Act is anything but. It is neither affordable nor does it provide care. But, to repeal it and do nothing would be equally reprehensible.
Twenty percent of all Floridians lack access to affordable health care. Once again, the Legislature has adjourned and ignored the problem.
Socialized medicine is not the answer, but a free enterprise driven managed competition plan is.
Some Republicans have proposed replacement plans, but none have gotten traction in Washington. On the state level, Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has proposed a system that will provide health care and lower the cost to consumers.
If other Republicans pick up on Jindal’s plan, it might help some of them win this year’s mid-term elections and enable to the GOP to recapture the Sentate.
That’s My Opinion and I am sticking to it.
John Grant is a political columnist who served 21 years in the Florida Legislature and now practices estate planning law in Tampa. He can be reached at [email protected] Column courtesy of Context Florida.
One comment
Marc Yacht MD
May 5, 2014 at 8:16 am
John: Tell that to the folks that have signed up and never had a shot at health care before. The Rs must come up with a credible plan that reduces administrative costs, reduces the complexities and abuses of coverage. Until then the critics like John Grant should try to work with Obamacare and support the effort to get everyone insured. I continue to advocate for Medicare for all. Medicare works, doctors accept it, and it makes health insurance affordable. Until then I’ll continue to support the only effort to reach out to the uninsured and deal with insurer abuses, Obamacare.
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