What’s Your Obamacare EQ (Emotional Quotient)?

The EQ - a measure of your emotional intelligence or your ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of yourself, others, and groups.

Definition of Emotional Quotient

The House, the Senate, the President, and the American people – who they  represent – are headed towards a showdown and a possible government shutdown over Obamacare.  

Why is the issue so emotionally charged? No doubt we ll  have our own interpretation why Obamacare is so polarizing? Test your EQ by seeing how you respond to the following six commehnts on the emotionally charged issues surrounding Obamacare.

Among the reasons are these:

First  is the word “Obamacare” itself.  Data shows that if one uses the word “Obamacare” instead of the official nameN“The Patient Protection and Affordability Act, or ACA,  emotions and resistance to the health reform act rise.

Second is the very word “mandate,” as in “Individual Mandate” and :Employer Mandate”.  In the free-wheeling American democracy,  with its inherent distrust of government, we do not like commands from on high.   We do not like to be told what to do or what is good  for us or to be forced to follow some government decree.

Third is how Obamacare was passed, without a single Republican vote, without even consulting GOP leaders.  The political opposition, who represents 49% of Americans,  regarded the clandestine  manner of ObamaCare’s unilateral passage as an act of political arrogance.   Its  passage poisoned the political well.

Fourth are the waivers and exemptions granted political allies,  particularly politicians themselves.  The fact that the Obama administration showed favoritism to  Congressional representatives and their staffs by continuing to shower them with subsidies not available to ordinary Americans sticks in the craw of voters who asked, “If Congress gets these favors, why not the rest of us?”

Fifth is the growing inequality among the rich and the middle class.  Since Obama was elected,  the incomes of the “rich” have grown by 20% while middle class income have increased by barely 1%, and many cases, dropped by 5%, while effective unemployment is around 14%.  All of this in spite of Obama vowed  to redistribute health and wealth benefits.  Emotionally, the public regards this growing gap as “crony capitalism,: as Wall Street uber Main Street.

Sixth is the blame game with charges of “misinformation”  on both sides of aisle.  Most Americans have yet to see declines in costs (they have risen by 10% or so);    increases in access  (the ACO says 7 to 20 million of us may lose our current plans);  and the ability to keep our present doctors (health plans are “narrowing” their networks and choices or providers).  Meanwhile President Obama continues to heap  blame on the  GOP with words like these.

“The problem we have is that over the last four years,  billions of dollars have been spent misinforming people about what this law is about.  All of the horror stories that were talked about have not come true. It is going to be a good deal and we expect that once it is fully implemented -- a year from now, two years from now, five years from now -- people will look back and, they'll be asking what was the argument about. Why is everybody fighting this so much?”  The reason, Mr. President,  is that people will only believe you when they see it.”

Under Obama, the words “consensus” and “compromise” have disappeared from our political dictionaries.  Now, on both sides, it’s malice towards all, charity towards none.  Americans are emotionally intelligent.  They will believe in economic and health care benefits when they see them, experience them, and feel them.

Tweet:  Emotions surrounding the health law are threatening to precipitate a political showdown and a government shutdown.