Suffer the Millionaires by Pat Conrad MD
We have had a lot of good talks here regarding the travails and glories of the Affordable Care Act, aka ObamaCare. The ACA was ratified by a cheerleader Congress, and upheld by a corrupt Supreme Court Chief Justice. It was sold as a way to make health care more affordable for all, and to ensure coverage for everyone, everywhere. The concept was an economic mess in Massachusetts, but we were assured it would look great on the national level. In this rapidly accelerating political season, all the GOP candidates are swearing on their Bibles that they will immediately overturn the law, break it into pieces, burn those pieces, and sprinkle the ashes on condemned land, which will then be sewn with salt. And good damn riddance. If you believe them. All the Democrat hopefuls praise the act, extolling its virtues, never doubting its gains, swearing that more must be done and promising that it will be, once the rich pay their fair share. Never discount the class warfare foundation of ObamaCare.
This site has published numerous pieces detailing some pretty big lapses:
- The predicted numbers of new enrollees have not materialized.
- In the midst of a worsening doctor shortage, independent practices have responded to the new costs mandated by this law by closing their doors. Not a single new hospital bed, nurse, or doc has been created by the law.
- Numerous ObamaCare co-ops have failed or are teetering, and (yet again) a huge federal bailout is looming.
- Big Insurance, protected by the federal government in a sweetheart deal, has been raking in mega-millions while…
- … premiums have doubled or worse for millions, threatening the economic stability of households the ACA purported to protect.
The arrogance of politicians and their federal machine is repeatedly showcased in the Law of Unintended Consequences, which none of these fatuous asses ever thinks applies to their good intentions. I wish I had been as smart as Carolyn McClanahan, a Jacksonville, Florida-based financial advisor and medical doctor. Did you see this coming? She did.
That’s right, certain wealthy retirees not yet of Medicare/dependency age are actually eligible for federally subsidized ObamaCare health insurance. Despite their millionaire status, a low monthly income has garnered taxpayer dollars for these lucky ones. Those of us who still work full-time, while courted with the rhetorical love for the middle class and working families, are the ones taking it in the financial shorts so that we can pay for the health insurance of others – some of whom already have more money than we will ever earn. Did you support ObamaCare? Do you support it now? Is this what you had in mind?
What we need is to pull together and fix it then!! Instead of complaining, why don’t you and the others start working on a system that will work?
One must admit that in Washington, things that do not change, do not change for a reason. No matter how often the blame is laid back on the public for “not getting it right,” there is a reason why ACA is built-to-fail.
There is a reason why, throughout most of our lifetimes, that the US deficit has continued to grow in ever-accelerating amounts. There is a reason why Detroit – built on American industry and manufacturing – represents American industry and manufacturing in its bankrupt twilight.
Saying that we need to show gumption is true, and wise. But it is not as though we were facing a mindless thing, a hurricane, a tsunami, an earthquake. There are people who will win big from the Healthcare Industry over the next five to ten years. They have made their investments pay off in the double-digits for years. They want it to continue. If we “pull together and fix it then,” they do not get what they want.
The sad and not-so-secret fact is that America is not prosperous enough to afford a First World healthcare model, and we will be bringing in a Third World model.
Go to http://www.latimes.com/ and look up “too poor to retire, too young to die.”
Try the link – http://graphics.latimes.com/retirement-nomads/#nt=notification which seems to bring up the article. Then read the article. Has Dolores Westfall lived her life all wrong, or is there another reason for her impoverishment?
Ok, I hear and read nothing but negativity regarding the ACA, Oh this isn’t working, that isn’t working, bla bla bla.
What we need is to pull together and fix it then!! Instead of complaining, why don’t you and the others start working on a system that will work?
Having many friends and family who couldn’t afford health insurance until the ACA came into being, and people who were hurt by those pre-existing conditions restrictions, I see a positive outcome. Yes, I have heard of people who were hurt by it as well.
How do we fix this? Complaining and criticizing isn’t going to fix anything. FIX IT DAMMIT!!!!!!
As a manager, I tell people don’t come complaining about something without a suggestion to fix the problem.
Stay with us, Jody. We do not just complain. https://authenticmedicine.com/reimagining-healthcare/
If they couldn’t afford it then they are positively not affording it now. Premiums have doubled and tripled. What they are doing is getting subsidies to pay their cost. That’s the problem with this entire concept it steals from some people to “give” it to others. Anyone that has to pay the full cost such as me can see it is not affordable And I was one that had a preexisting condition. My premiums went from 538 a month to right at 1300 a month with WORSE coverage.