Plain Talk about ObamaCare: What Works and Doesn’t Work 

A tale should be judicious, clear, succinct;

The language plain, and incidents well link’ed;

Tell that as new what every body knows,

And, new and old, hasten to close.

William Cowper (1731-1800), Conversation 

When it comes to ObamaCare: some things work for some; other things don’t work for most. 
  

Why doesn’t someone say it loud and clear. ObamaCare works for some of the people some of the time, but it doesn’t work for most of the people most of the time.   

And, as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “The American people are perfectly capable of judging a political party that works both sides of the street.” In the end, the  majority of the people will decide what’s workable and what’s not.

ObamaCare works for:

·       Young adults under 26 covered under their parents’ plan.

·        The insured and the subsidized underinsured who receive subsidies.

·       Medicaid and Medicare recipients who can find a doctor who will accept them.

·       Individuals who seek to receive free preventive tests with no copays.

·       Seniors who fall into the doughnut hole and who cannot afford prescription drugs beyond a certain limit.

·       People with pre-existing conditions applying for health  plans. 

ObamaCare doesn’t work or works poorly  for: 

·       People who like their doctor and health plan.

·       Politicians in red states who want to be re-elected.

·       Voters who were promised their health premiums would fall.

·       Anyone  seeking to enroll in a federally-sanctioned health exchange plans who cannot fathom healthcare.gov.

·       Hispanics  who do not comprehend the Spanglish in the federal website.

·       The young and healthy and underemployed or unemployed who are being asked to support the health costs of the older and sicker

·       Government-employed or contracted Information technology nerds who built healthcare.gov.

·       Health plan holders being cancelled because their plans do not comply with ObamaCare compliance rules.

·       Employers who want to grow their enterprise but cannot afford to hire more full-time workers.

·       Businesses who hesitate to plan  the future because of the uncertainties of ObamaCare survival.

·       Entrepreneurial, innovative  companies who do not expand because of a 2.3% excise tax on their profits.

·       Almost anybody who is still trying to understand what in in the  four year-old 2700 page Patient Protection and Affordable Care to see what it portends for them.

·       Insurance companies  faced with making a profit on standardized comprehensive essential benefits for all and  last minute change in ObamaCare rules.

·       Patients who must see doctors for critical conditions when neither they nor their doctors know whether they are insured or not.

I close with this comment from John C. Goodman in today's Wall Street Journal:

 "At some point, politicians of both parties will realize that we can do better than this. That will require a real market for health insurance with premiums that reflect real risks. There is a role for government in helping people with severe health problems. That is why risk pools exist. What we didn't need was to destroy the market for the many in order to give aid to the few."

Tweet:   With ObamaCare,  some things are working for some of the people some of the time and not  for most of the people most of the time