Tuesday, December 10, 2013

ObamaCare Thoughts

One reason conservatives hate the Affordable Care Act (aka Obama Care) is that it’s not called “Bush Care” or “Reagan Care.” The ACA is a product of congressional compromise that made it more complicated than it should have been. It's less “socialistic” than Medicare or Social Security. How many Tea Partiers refuse government benefits from either of these?

Had I been in charge, I'd have put everyone on Medicare and concentrated on how to pay for it and how to fairly compensate providers. Medicare's infrastructure, website and integration with private insurance companies is already in place. As a friend recently said, if a new health care plan had been marketed as "Medicare for All" it would have had massive popular support.

Obama Care isn’t about changing the health care system; it’s about paying for the health care system. Is there really nostalgia for the "old" system? My premiums increases averaged 20% per year for 6 years.

What about those new government mandates? Yikes! "This is a very slippery slope," as commentators love to say. Next thing you know Americans will be taxed on their income and have to stop their cars at red lights.

Every major piece of legislation needs fine tuning. If Congress repeals ObamaCare, what is the alternative? Let's work on fixing ACA's problems rather than trying to demonize it for political gain.