First let me state the facts that everyone seems to be dancing around. This is a tax, make no mistake. I wish lawmakers would just have the fortitude to call it a tax. It’s administered under the Treasury; the cost is in proportion to annual income and under the exchange, is even eligible for tax credits. If they had called it a tax instead of a fee from the beginning, this would have saved a trip to the Supreme Court. I’m ok with calling it a tax. Why? The U.S. Constitution, Article I Section 8: “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States”
Remember that line about the general welfare, because I’m going to revisit that in a paragraph or two.
Secondly, all insurance rates will go up; the most common increase is around 8% and that’s median. Some will go up considerably more, other less so, but all will go up. There’s a lot of talk about the 80/20 rule; where the companies have to spend .80 of every dollar to provide better healthcare. What they don’t mention is how vague the improvements have to be. For example a company can dedicate that .80 towards R&D, which can offer tax incentives and tax credits, offsetting the cost to neutral. What a deal! And let’s not forget that while those with preexisting conditions cannot be denied insurance, the insurers can charge up to 3x the average premiums with no end in sight.
Now that I’ve gone over the negatives and if you’re still reading this, you likely think I’m against Obamacare. Not so. I actually support the Affordable Care Act and I offer this as rebuttal.
Affordable healthcare promotes the general welfare. (I told you I’d come back to that.) Pretty simple. We are all one people and if one suffers, we all suffer.
The fact is that people are not going to cease becoming ill, no amount of obstruction or filibustering will change this; we need healthcare reform NOW to provide access to affordable coverage, including preventive care. Today we have swine flu, bird flu, HIV, Hepatitis and TB on the rise, these are transmittable yet the GOP assumes these are not class specific. There is no disease or chronic condition that will be frightened off by a large bank account.
The GOP was given every opportunity to participate in creating a universal healthcare bill and conciliatory gestures were repeatedly offered, only to be met with scorn. The arguments were extraordinarily flimsy at best and offered no real alternative, just more obstruction tactics. Personally, I don’t like the mandates and lack of price controls, preferring Medicare expansion but I still congratulate the Democrats for taking the courageous first step. It’s a journey long overdue.
So now the GOP has played the final card in their arsenal; the budgetary shutdown. This behavior is atrocious and a shameful display of ignoring the people who are making life and death decisions about whether to buy food or healthcare. It’s an insult to the people and to the Constitution. If your solution is to rely solely on obstruction, you’re grossly abusing the purpose for which the voter entrusted you to represent their needs. Regardless of your position on reform, at least parents can be assured that their child’s preexisting condition is no longer a factor and that seniors need not fear the Rx donut hole or a lifetime coverage cap. I have several friends who literally owe their lives to being able to obtain affordable healthcare and I would ashamed to tell them “Sorry, I’m against big government”. Reminder GOP, big government includes the EPA, FDA, school integration, The Philadelphia Plan, the 1st increase to Social Security, and a proposed actual minimum living wage. These were all under Republican administrations. Oh and by the way, so was a proposed universal healthcare by President Nixon, markedly similar to Obamacare. Just saying.
We’re the wealthiest nation yet 49 million people go hungry each day, our veterans sleep under bridges and 45 million have lacked basic healthcare insurance, praying they wouldn’t fall ill. Despite this, we’ve spent so much of our resources not taking care of the needs of the many but of the few. I always say that we may never achieve the Constitution’s preamble of “a more perfect Union” but we shouldn't stop striving for it.
Thank you for taking the time to read.
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