Lets presume for a moment that the Affordable Care Act and ancillary actions enacted by a Democratically controlled Congress and forced on America by the Obama administration needs to be reformed or changed or repealed. Lets presume that for a moment.
The Republicans and those that thought such reform necessary have had eight years or so to come up with something better...anything to make healthcare more affordable in this nation. The Republicans spent eight years voting on measures to repeal the Affordable Care Act, knowing that it would never get past a Democratic administration. And now...when the Republicans run the show...totally...they cannot get anything done. Its quite reprehensible and ridiculous: eight years!!!!
The Affordable Care Act is quite a misnomer. It was never about making healthcare better or more affordable. Actually, its made it quite a bit less affordable. The company for which I work has seen health insurance premiums increase an average of >15%/YEAR over those eight years. Those increases occurred while the company aggressively managed its health insurance program. I know that's an anecdotal story but, I'm certain you'd hear it over and over from small business and large business owners.
What the act has done is shift wealth to the insurance and health care industries...on the whole. Sure, there are some folks that now have coverage that couldn't / didn't before...but, we've sure all paid for it. Health care isn't free. And, those that do have coverage are seeing more and more of their wages going to insurance premiums, deductibles, out-of-pocket costs for $10 band-aids, etc. which means less for everything else.
My contention back during the development of the Affordable Care Act is that any reforms need to focus on the drivers of the healthcare costs not on the system of paying for those costs: the ability of insurance companies to compete across state lines, malpractice coverage/tort reform, transparency in health care costs/pricing, etc. The idea should have been to make it more AFFORDABLE not shift the costs around for it while they increase every year! HA! I told that to my Congressional Rep and Senators. See how that helped!
I'm thinking such a scheme is not in the interest of the status quo of our nation. Follow the money. Qui Bono? I suggest a major redo, not just of healthcare but of our political system and how its funded but, that's another story.
That's my pessimistic angry rant for the day. I feel mildly better now.
The Poodles wish the best to you and yours!
