Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Has it been and will it be worth it?

Though extended by the White House, yesterday was the deadline for the current sign up period for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.  Has it been and will it be worth it?

  • Pelosi's now infamous exhortation that the law had to be passed so they'd know what is in it.
  • The government now controls what medical insurance citizens are required, by federal law, to purchase.  Citizens may neither want nor need the required insurance.  For example, we are in our sixties and object to federal law requiring us to have medical insurance for pregnancy and childbirth.  Further, the government demands include paying for policy elements many find objectionable based on religious beliefs.  For example, I do not accept abortion as a form of birth control, so most strongly object to being required to fund abortions and non-surgical abortion pills ("morning after pills").  Both take a human life.
  • Prior to the passage of the law, we were told 30 million Americans did not have medical insurance.  Last fall we were informed more than 6 million people lost their medical insurance.  This morning we are told 7 million people signed up for Obamacare.  No matter how the numbers actually turn out (who really pays for their policies, how many actually obtain policies, how many simply replaced replaced cancelled previously held policies, how many of the sign ups are actually Medicaid, etc.), the entire effort fails to address the tens of millions without medical insurance.
  • Anecdotal information indications sharp rises in health care costs for the many to pay for the few.
  • Obamacare has become the most polarizing law in decades.
  • Anecdotal information indicates the majority of individuals are experiencing higher premium, co-pay, and out of pocket medical costs.
  • The law provides for federal control of medical decisions.
  • More than 37 unilateral changes to federal law have been enacted by the executive branch, violating federal law.
  • The law provides multiple federal bureaucracies that will control how much is paid to doctors and hospitals.
  • Anecdotal information indicates large and concerning numbers of doctors and hospitals are not included in the exchanges.
  • Hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted in setting up the exchanges, both at the federal and state levels.   
  • The main points made while attempting to sell this to the American public have been proven false:
  1. If you like you doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor.
  2. If you like your health insurance, you will be able to keep your health insurance.  Period.
  3. American families will save an average of $2500 per year.
From this vantage point, three encompassing concerns remain:
  1. So-called elected leaders either knowingly lied to the American people or are so inept as to present false information time and time again.  
  2. When austerity is required, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars have been squandered.
  3. Any law that gives any level of government the ability to dictate to the American people regarding health care, moral values, and wealth redistribution is bad law.  When the executive branch brazenly and illegally modified federal law for political and personal expediency, the rule of law no longer exists. 
So no, it hasn't been and most likely will not have been worth it.

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