Turn on the television and you hear nothing but a litany of false cries from the GOP about how Obama "lied" because he promised prior to the passing of the ACA that folks would be able to keep their current policies if they wished but now insurance companies are cancelling individual policies. The reason for this is because such policies do not comply with the minimum requirements of the new health care law. These policies were cheap, high deductible policies which covered very little. The ACA requires that a baseline of health care services are covered by health insurance policies. The reason for this is to ensure that all people receive preventative health care services and that a minimum standard of care is guaranteed for all citizens. The ACA protects against individual policies which formerly cost little but provided little and were essentially worthless. These policies needed to be abolished anyway because they were essentially ripping consumers off.
But instead of sharing this information in a truthful manner, opponents of the new law are using it as an opportunity to attack the president and the new law. This is just as much of a lie as anything the president has told, however, because they are failing to mention that the cancellation of these policies will essentially be good for consumers because they will be able to get new policies through the health care exchanges which cover more and are a better value anyway.
Turn on the Obama Hate Channel (aka Fox News), and you hear nothing but how the healthcare.gov website has been a debacle and how Kathleen Sebelius must resign. While the roll out of the website has been flawed, the attempt to get Sebelius to resign is designed to help derail the ACA by then causing several months of contentious confirmation hearings and attempts to delay implementation of the law.
It is unbelievable how stingy and backward this nation is compared with other industrialized nations. The current GOP opposition is exactly the same nonsense they pulled when Social Security was passed during the Roosevelt Administration and during the Great Society legislation passed by LBJ. The notion that as a society we must all contribute a little bit and share so that all people can receive life sustaining medical care isn't complicated. It's patently obvious. As I mentioned in prior articles, the real issue is the fear of uptight whites that blacks, immigrants, and "lazy" whites might get something for nothing. They'd rather watch this country burn then see that happen. If a few million innocent children, disabled, elderly, or very sick people die in the process, so be it.
As a society, we cannot afford to have people continuing to use the emergency room as their primary care provider. This is terribly expensive, inefficient, and harmful to people who have real medical emergencies. Demanding that all people buy health insurance or pay a penalty is a way to avoid mooching by those who might otherwise go to the ER where they cannot be turned away for financial reasons. If you don't want to buy health insurance, too bad. You always run the risk of getting hurt in a car crash or having a heart attack. These events will cause you to use the medical system and you won't be able to afford the cost of paying the hospital and doctor bills yourself. This means everyone else must pay your way. This is the true injustice that naysayers of the ACA refuse to acknowledge.
Despite the pathetic attempts of the GOP to derail the ACA, it is going to be implemented, whether they like it or not. I just hope that during the next election, voters hammer their asses for being so obstructionist. The sooner there are less members of the Tea Party in Congress, the better.
Good riddens.
