Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Summing
Up: Ten Reasons Why Obamacare Remains Controversial
Still
one more thing, fellow citizens – a wise and frugal government, which shall
restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free
to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement and shall not take
from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this
is necessary to close the circle or our felicities.
Thomas
Jefferson (1743-1826), First Inaugural
Address, 1801
All
human wisdom is summed up in two words – wait and hope.
Alexander
Dumas (1802-1870), the Count of Monte Christo
Why is ObamaCare so controversial? Why are Democrats and Republicans at each
other’s throats over forwarding or halting the health law, even though it is
likely to be implemented? We shall have
to wait and hope things turn out for the best for most of us.
Here are ten points of controversy.
One, the Founding Fathers
created the Constitution to minimize radical change by inserting checks and
balances between the three branches of government. When Democrats passed ObamaCare without a single GOP vote, the violated this
Constitutional premise by saying in essence, “It’s our way or the highway.”
Two,
Obamacare, as written, radically changes the
health care system, for better or worse,
by giving government the power to set the rules for administering, paying for,
and regulating health care, now nearly
one-fifth of the nation’s economy and its fastest growing segment.
Three, according to its
critics, ObamaCare threatens and
diminishes the individual liberties of all Americans - physicians, patients, employers, the well,
the sick, the young and the old – by mandating and regulating what they can and cannot do,
and advancing the principle that government, not individuals, know what is best for their welfare.
Fourth,
ObamaCare sends mixed
messages and produces mixed consequences among different economic groups. Short-term consequences, already
apparent, include rising costs for
families, less choice of health plans and doctors, employer uncertainties, physician shortages, and a rush of hospitals
and doctors to consolidate with resulting cost increases. Long term-consequence, which ObamaCare promises to remedy, remain unknown.
Five,
because
of its long introductory period and its mixed signals, ObamaCare consequences
allow ample room for controversy. The
law is not a single coherent program, but a potpourri of mandates, Medicaid expansions, and regulations that
impact different groups of Americans in different ways at different times which
leads to differences of opinions.
Six,
ObamaCare is a political minefield loaded with
explosives exemptions, waivers, bear traps, pitfalls, and pratfalls for political cronies, the most notable and
hypocritical of which are the subsidies provided for Congress and its staff,
who apparently are favored over the rest
of us.
Seven, Obama vowed a “Transformational Presidency,” a redistribution
of health and wealth benefits, as dictated by the people and not the Washington
establishment; his presidency has so far not delivered on promises to reduce
health costs, improve access, allow one to keep one’s doctor and health plan,
to level the playing field rich, middle class, and poor.
Eight,
directly or indirectly,
rightly or wrongly, Obama’s economic and
health care policies are perceived to have had a negative effect on economic
growth, which has averaged 2% GDP
growth, compared to 3% to 4% needed for recovery of financial health and
full-time employment enjoyed in previous bounce-backs from previous recessions.
Nine,
the Obama and
Democratic argument that ObamaCare is
the law, get over it, move forward, and in time, you will welcome and accept
its bountiful benefits, is stale and no longer selling well. It strikes at
heart of Americans’ belief in free
enterprise. As I noted in a previous
book , The Health Reform Maze,
Government
may think it knoweth,
What
is best for most of us,
But
the market bestowth,
What
is good for the rest of us.
Ten,
partisan wars over Obamacare and liberals’ pure faith in government
“programs” with Obamacare as the
equivalent of Medicare and Social Security as universal antidotes to social
ills will continue to be contested if
the economy continues its slow recovery. One man’s macroeconomic fair share is another
man’s economic nightmare. We shall have
to wait and hope ObamaCare does not collapse from own faults. We shall have to wait and hope for the best.
Tweet: Summing
up: ObamaCare’s fate hangs on whether it can deliver on its promises to lower
costs, increase access, and improve quality.
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