The Obamacare Issue

Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) leaves the floor of the Senate after a testy exchange with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) at the start of legislative business, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Sept. 23, 2013.

Both Republicans and democrats are accusing the other of attempting a government shut down. A recent bill passed by the House has excited Harry Reid who has decried:

“Inside the House Republican bubble, the crowd cheered a plan to deny health insurance to tens of millions of Americans or else shut down the government,’’ Mr. Reid said at the outset of a debate that is expected to stretch into next weekend before any significant votes are taken. ‘President Obama has been clear. I have been clear. Any bill that defunds Obamacare is dead on arrival in the Senate.’’

 Ted Cruz (R., Texas) has responded to Mr. Reid, saying:

“There is a tendency in this town toward brinksmanship, towards pointing to events that can cause instability and uncertainty and using them to try to get your way."

I'm surprised that democrats are shocked by the reluctance Republicans have at supporting this bill. The people that placed the Republicans into office did so expecting them to do what they could to block the bill or stop it. Many people on the right have been against the bill and for good reason.

Recent reports are revealing how the bill is already causing quite a stir among different states and how it is already creating chaos.

Different states are doing different things in order to comply with the bill's instructions. Some people will face major hikes in their insurance costs, some almost double or triple the rates. Other states like NY already have high rates so their increase will not be as greatly felt by those currently paying for insurance.

Another report by Bloomberg makes mention of how a great increase in the number of those insured is causing concern among many healthcare professionals. People who have not seen a doctor for quite sometime will inevitably flood doctors, forcing increased waiting time for all patients. Another challenge will be treating those people who have missed their "ideal" window to get treatment. The costs will be huge and since the bill never got proper funding in the first place, as evidenced by the current fiasco in Congress, one is forced to question what will be demanded in funds for healthcare costs in the future?

Some people do not seem to be as concerned. They have voiced opinion that while there may be a slight increase in visits, it will not be as overload as many are claiming or expecting will happen. However, this other, not-so-concerned opinion, seems to contradict what we have already seen happen in Massachusetts, when under Romney, the state went almost universal health care. Increase in patients and treatment did increase and seems to remain high while simultaneously forcing health care providers to deny new patients. Some practices have closed altogether.

Costs up, demand up, accessibility --a soon to be all time low.

To those of us that read the bill -- which I did and struggled to do so -- it appears to be a carte blanche check to the Secretary of Health and Human Services . Yeah, Kathleen Sebelius, the one who made "unintentional errors" on her taxes. In almost every paragraph this title (Secretary of Health and Human Services), is mentioned as the final source to determine A, B, and C of the entire bill. In short, she can approve whatever she likes and give no reason for doing so; there is no oversight. Remember Pelosi's little, "We have to pass the bill in order to find out what's in it" line? Well, Pelosi was telling us the truth. You can't possibly know what was being passed when the Secretary herself has not yet released her strategy.

The bill was a joke to begin with. It was disjointed and clearly written by several different people. In addition almost nobody had time to read the bill. Congress was only given a short window to get through the monstrous bill and many admitted to voting even though they had not read the bill in its entirety.

The democrats want us to believe that somehow conservatives who disapprove of the bill are only doing so because of some sort of deep-seated, selfish need. Some on the left have made vile attacks toward those on the right. They have made claims that we want to see people suffer in illness simply because they are poor. The demonetization of the right tactic by the left has quite frankly gotten rather old. There are many issues with the bill and not one of them concerns a desire to see people suffer.

First, the bill was incomplete to begin with. It was rushed and pushed through as a political move. There is no organization to the implementation of coverage and no uniformity. Many in healthcare have no idea what is going to happen next, what to expect, or how they are going to handle the increase in demand be it a slow or fast. None of these issues were thought out well enough. Other options were not even considered by those on the left. Sure, we can all agree that there needs to be access for care no matter what economic status one is from but why not just expand Medicare and allow more competition between insurance companies? We will also have many with previous conditions now seeking medical care which is great on the surface but how will that affect us? How will we compensate for the costs?

What about the many people who bring about their own health problems compared to those that take care of themselves? Many healthy people are rewarded for their efforts to take care of their bodies with lower costs in healthcare. Now their costs will rise in order to compensate for the costs of people who do nothing but sit on a coach day and night while snacking on junk food, drinking beer, and smoking cigarettes even though they have been diagnosed with diabetes or some other long term medical condition. Healthy people will be forced to carry insurance that covers things that do not even apply to them. The law specifically stipulates certain things that must be covered on all plans. There are many people who simply do not need certain coverage. Men do not need prenatal care and many people will never require coverage for rehab. The Obamacare plans are designed as one-size-fits all but these are not t-shirts they are offering; this is insurance, which is intended to be personal. The argument against this claim is saying that we already pay for coverage that is not necessary so it simply doesn't matter what Obamacare will require.

Okay. I guess.

Who's in charge? Apparently the IRS will oversee Obamacare as it pertains to the requirements of people's coverage. They will be the ones issuing the fines that will be implemented on those who do not purchase insurance. This will obviously require them to have access to sensitive information and will require us to keep them updated.

Even worse still is that the CBO is now actually predicting that a million more Americans (31 million), will be uninsured, compared to the current number which is at 30 million. This means that while people with preexisting conditions will be able to get care, others will opt out and pay a fine instead.

Unfortunately, there is too much confusion involved. For every site that I find making complaints, there is another website out there praising Obamacare and telling us not to worry about anything. Interestingly enough the people who support the bill seem to believe that it is some type of miracle that will cure our country of any and all problems in our healthcare system; they are not questioning anything and this seems rather naive to me.

Perhaps Obamacare does have its good points but how long till we see these results? Yes, our country has problems concerning heath care costs and access but I cannot help believe that perhaps we should have taken our time when finding a way to relieve those in need and increase the amount of those being covered.

In short, we need balance.