by Michael Peterson
Let’s start with an easy concept: the healthcare system in the United States, as it stands now, is broken. More than 45 million people last year went without health insurance, forcing them to pay crippling medical costs, or avoid seeing a doctor at all. The United States has made access to lifesaving medical care a privilege, afforded only to those who can pay for it. This is why we as a country fall so far behind almost all other industrialized nations in providing medical care to our citizens; we treat health care as a business, something it has no right to be.
The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, has aimed to improve our dire situation. By putting public assistance in place, as well as requiring all people to have some sort of insurance, the law plays on one of the basic economic concepts of supply and demand. By increasing the number of people paying into the healthcare system the cost to each individual is reduced. This truth is already playing out in states that are implementing this law early, and indicators from other states show similar promise.
However, as has been widely publicized, the current campaign being undertaken by conservative groups around the country to try and stop this law from fully being enacted has come to fruition. This has now culminated in the House of Representatives essentially holding federal government funding hostage, refusing to pass the annual budget for the federal government that does not include stripping the Affordable Care Act of its funding. This type of “government shutdown” is risking the paychecks of over 2 million Americans, and bringing federal programs to a standstill while Congress sorts itself out.
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Let’s start with an easy concept: the healthcare system in the United States, as it stands now, is broken. More than 45 million people last year went without health insurance, forcing them to pay crippling medical costs, or avoid seeing a doctor at all. The United States has made access to lifesaving medical care a privilege, afforded only to those who can pay for it. This is why we as a country fall so far behind almost all other industrialized nations in providing medical care to our citizens; we treat health care as a business, something it has no right to be.
The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, has aimed to improve our dire situation. By putting public assistance in place, as well as requiring all people to have some sort of insurance, the law plays on one of the basic economic concepts of supply and demand. By increasing the number of people paying into the healthcare system the cost to each individual is reduced. This truth is already playing out in states that are implementing this law early, and indicators from other states show similar promise.
However, as has been widely publicized, the current campaign being undertaken by conservative groups around the country to try and stop this law from fully being enacted has come to fruition. This has now culminated in the House of Representatives essentially holding federal government funding hostage, refusing to pass the annual budget for the federal government that does not include stripping the Affordable Care Act of its funding. This type of “government shutdown” is risking the paychecks of over 2 million Americans, and bringing federal programs to a standstill while Congress sorts itself out.
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There are two major issues with this plan. First, the idea that the Affordable Care Act is some kind of devastating thing that America must be “protected from” is ridiculous. For millions of people who previously could not afford insurance, this will radically bring down those prohibitive costs. For those who already have insurance, nothing changes. Even for employers, who are often touted as the prime “victim” of the ACA, the overall effect is minimal. Take the famous example of Papa John’s, whose CEO has been a huge opponent of the bill. It is estimated that even if the cost of the law’s mandate to provide insurance to full-time employees was completely passed, the price of a pizza would increase by 11 cents. Yes, 11 cents. A dime and a penny. All to give working people the chance to actually go see a doctor. This is not some sort of big-government intrusion into anyone’s life; the ACA is a chance to actually provide people with the health coverage that is essentially required to get care in this country.
Secondly, the plan congressional republicans have devised is little short of a temper tantrum. Not only has the House voted 42 times to repeal the ACA, none of which have passed the Senate, they are now to all but defunding our government over this already-passed law. There is absolutely nothing productive about this plan. According to Republican thought, the two options to go forward are either a return to the tragically broken healthcare system we have now, or an absolute stripping of the national government that employs millions and provides a multitude of services for the entire count. There is absolutely no positive outcome if this continues to be the strategy of the House.
There is room to disagree with the ACA. It is a mandate to buy insurance, which some see as coercive. The answer to this, however, is not to return to our previous system of only caring for those who can afford medical care. This act should serve to start showing us that healthcare is a universal human right, not a business. Unfortunately, as long as the discourse in Congress continues to paint the ACA as some sort of monolithic tragedy, that conversation will never happen. Temper tantrums should be left to four-year-olds, not the people entrusted to represent our nation in making real national policy.
Secondly, the plan congressional republicans have devised is little short of a temper tantrum. Not only has the House voted 42 times to repeal the ACA, none of which have passed the Senate, they are now to all but defunding our government over this already-passed law. There is absolutely nothing productive about this plan. According to Republican thought, the two options to go forward are either a return to the tragically broken healthcare system we have now, or an absolute stripping of the national government that employs millions and provides a multitude of services for the entire count. There is absolutely no positive outcome if this continues to be the strategy of the House.
There is room to disagree with the ACA. It is a mandate to buy insurance, which some see as coercive. The answer to this, however, is not to return to our previous system of only caring for those who can afford medical care. This act should serve to start showing us that healthcare is a universal human right, not a business. Unfortunately, as long as the discourse in Congress continues to paint the ACA as some sort of monolithic tragedy, that conversation will never happen. Temper tantrums should be left to four-year-olds, not the people entrusted to represent our nation in making real national policy.