Really?
This is a great news story (link posted below) that helps to clear up some of the information about the health care law. So much misinformation has been put out there that it is nice to see someone have an honest conversation about it and make sense of it.
Personally, I support that law. It contains things that suck--like the federal government mandating that individuals purchase a product--but it does solve a lot of very severe health care problems. And I know from experience. When I was 23 years old I could no longer bend over to tie my shoes because of severe back pain. Even putting on pants was a challenge. The HMO I went to at the time knew he could make more money if he protected the insurance company's profits rather than address my problem so he just kept telling me that there was nothing wrong. An MRI exam would have cost about $1,800.00, I believe, but it would have revealed that I had two ruptured disks in my low back. A condition that has so far already ruined me financially four times. It is aggravating to know that I could have addressed the problem back in my 20s if the medical insurance that I PAID FOR was used to ensure my health, rather than to ensure the profits of insurance companies and doctors. They profited while I faced financial distress for the next 15+ years. And who knows what my future holds?
The Affordable Care Act is not perfect legislation but I believe it is far better than doing nothing. And it can be improved to be a better law. Probably not with the stagnation and partisanship in the federal government today, but over time. And if a few people can be spared from health care nightmares like mine then it will be worth it.
The news story doesn't get too deep into the financial aspect of the law but it is paid for (for all intents and purposes) and the Congressional Budget Office has declared it to be deficit neutral. The law gets it's "deficit neutral" stamp by relying on future taxes and spending cuts that may never come to fruition (aka "gimmicks"). But I don't think it is going to explode the deficit, kill jobs or cause the country's financial ruin. If it is implemented correctly, it will reduce costs because it will give people, who otherwise couldn't afford it, access to preventative care rather than waiting for them to become deathly ill before getting emergency treatment and leaving the rest of us to pay the bill. It will create jobs because there will be more activity in the health care industry, requiring new employees to meet demand. And small business that otherwise couldn't afford to provide health care to their employees, will benefit from the increased productivity that comes along with having a more healthy workforce (one of the reasons other countries have been beating us in manufacturing).
So I reject the right-wing hysteria on this issue. At almost every turn I will favor pragmatism over ideology. This is certainly one of those cases.
The news story:
http://www.npr.org/2012/07/03/156174917/post-supreme-court-lets-review-health-care-law
~R. Charan Pagan
information systems technologist, musician, writer, filmmaker
Los Angeles, CA 90017
http://www.reclaimingourbirthright.blogspot.com/
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