bond-healthcare-happy

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“America’s health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system.”

 

Walter Cronkite

<said decades before ObamaCare>

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“I’ve been asked a lot for my view on American health care.

Well, ‘it would be a good idea,’ to quote Gandhi.”

Paul Farmer

 

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So.

 

obamacare-healthcareIf there was one topic which I would shake my head in disgust with politics and politicians it would be healthcare and the Affordable Healthcare Act <ObamaCare>.

 

No topic has become more politicized than this. Back in December 2009 when I wrote my initial thoughts on this healthcare topic I said it “was Christmas for Politicians.”

 

I was right … and it drives me fucking nuts.

 

No one in their right mind wants to truly repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act.

And, in fact, only about 50% of people <and this number is the same for republicans and democrats> want to repeal it. All the while about 50% of people have also said Obamacare didn’t affect them in any way <only about 15% or so said it affected them negatively – and, I will note, that I am clearly in the small subset in which the Healthcare Act has negatively affected me>.

 

And if you want to know how much this is politicized … when the name “Obamacare” is dropped from any healthcare survey and questions revolve around services provided … well … the significant majority of people actually like it.

 

Are there issues with ObamaCare? Sure. But it is easily fixable <and it seems like if you focused on fixing the shit that the 15% who are actually unhappy it would be fairly inexpensive and easier than replacing the entire thing> … oh … and if this had been anyone but the government and politics … a business would have been fine tuning it as it progressed making the appropriate changes in real time.

 

Do I think the government can fix it? Well … probably no … not because they are stupid but because they are politicians.

 

And that is a shame.

 

Health care coverage has become more common in the United States than wearing a seatbelt <source: AP>. 20 million Americans gained insurance under the Affordable Care Act sending the uninsured rate plummeting to an all-time low. In addition, under the law, fewer Americans are skipping doctors’ visits than before. Most enrollees say they like their new coverage.

 

Sure … there are some real problems. The Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces have struggled to attract health insurers who want to sell coverage, creating serious questions about the sustainability.

In addition … About half of Obamacare enrollees say that they’re unsatisfied with the high costs of premiums and deductibles <but like the benefits …. which suggests a price/value problem>.

 

But the situation with the ObamaCare is a pretty simple one.

 

The more people know about ObamaCare <the details, benefits & services>, the higher  poll approval scores it receives and the more popular the law is.

People who understand that the ACA helps them, versus what they had before, approve of it most strongly <the price/value equation is solved>.suicide question

 

Suffice it to say that lack of knowledge and misinformation are two of the biggest problems that people have with the Affordable Care Act.

 

And the biggest culprits in misinformation are the politicians.

 

I go nuts over this.

It is stupid.

It is not Obamacare.

And it shouldn’t be RyanCare or Trumpcare or … well … anything but USHealthcare.

 

And the Affordable healthcare Act, while complicated in its actual implementation is incredibly simple in its foundation <at least in my mind>:

 

  • Expanded Medicaid.

This alone decreased the number of people without healthcare. It assisted lower income and elderly to access quality healthcare.

If someone wants to call this ‘increased government involvement’ go ahead. This is what government is supposed to do.

I cannot understand the states that did not choose to implement this aspect.

 

 

  • Societal mandate that everyone should be able to receive healthcare without being bankrupted and have access to healthcare within an affordable framework.

An estimated 52 million Americans — 27% of the non-elderly — have pre-existing conditions health conditions that, prior to the Affordable Care Act, would have been grounds for denying coverage in the individual market.

The health care law eliminated an insurance industry practice called underwriting, where plans would try to estimate how healthy their customers were to decide what price to charge — or whether to sell insurance at all. Obamacare regulations prohibit charging sicker people higher premiums; the only factors an insurance plan can take into account — where someone lives, how old they are, and if they smoke.

Did this drive up costs? Yup. Sure did. And, that isn’t because of the government; it is because the greedy healthcare companies had been bilking the American people and now that they cannot they don’t want to sacrifice their profit margins. Blaming the government, or the Affordable Healthcare Act, for this is like blaming the referee for throwing out a player who committed an egregious unsportsmanlike act on the field.

 

  • The insurance you receive, and pay for, is meaningful

The one Obamacare regulation that changed the health insurance industry, and healthcare-needle-doctorpricing, the most was the mandate to offer ‘meaningful policies.’

Insurance companies have been forced to provide you benefits that they didn’t have to prior to the bill instead of offering a policy which made you feel good that you had insurance but would bankrupt you if you actually needed to use it.

 

 

  • Federal mandate to have health insurance <the health version of car insurance – if you drive you must have insurance/if you live you must have insurance>

Uhm. A healthier America is a more productive America. We will do more. Everyone will be enabled to do more. This is called “maximizing your potential.” One would think this is a good thing, right?

 

Sigh.

 

The while healthcare debate, or argument, is stupid. And it gets stupider every minute.

There are times that I am fairly sure I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer … and this is one.

 

I cannot figure out why people wouldn’t want this and, frankly, all the bad-current-health-system‘privatization’ arguments aside <which I would point out means profit drives what policies they offer>, I don’t get why people don’t want our government to figure his out. The constitution states it is the responsibility of the government to insure the Welfare of the People.

Kinda seems like this program not only is developed with that intent … but also in its reality. It’s not like people will be demanded to … well … say for example … buy twinkies every week.

 

It also seems like it is to the ultimate “welfare of the people” if everyone is “in the system” which makes the cost for all lower, that pre-existing conditions rules of the game are no longer needed by health insurance companies and the healthcare system itself isn’t burdened by a ‘less than healthy’ low income population.

 

Sure.

The way it’s conceived – all the weird aspects they had to build in upfront to try and make the system work from the get go,  the complex subsidy system that rocket scientists cannot even explain, odd benefit levels, an unwieldy sign up system, just to name a few, absolutely suck.

But, if we see the program as fluid <which any sane business would do> it will evolve until we settles into better solutions and better affect. As I said back in 2009 … the initial plan ain’t gonna be perfect <any business person worth a shit could have told them that>.

 

Look.

 

To be clear.

 

healthcare-next-steps-people-surveyI also believe the government would have been significantly better off if they had developed an initiative & program which would have shown a government supported introduction with a “10 year” planned evolution back into the private competitive sector … where the government is simply playing a role because no one else was … or could … in the set up of a national program.

But that’s a bigger issue & discussion.

 

But here is what all these asshat politicians know <but aren’t saying>.

 

Even if the idea gets squashed <for all the wrong reasons being discussed> … the plan has stimulated changes in the healthcare industry overall and we are currently on a path to a different & better healthcare place <which we definitely were not on before the Obamacare system was put in place>.

 

Even if the idea gets squashed <for all the wrong reasons being discussed> … many parts of the affordable health care act are already in effect … we cannot go back.

 

The American people aren’t stupid. We may not know what we need to know about Obamacare and the politicians may have been there consistent asshats … but we are not stupid.

 

I tend to believe almost everyone understands that if everyone here in the good old USA would be demonstrably better if people were not denied healthcare or charged obscene amounts because they have a health problem <having run a business I would have killed to have had a healthy employee base every day>.tree-roots-grounded-healthy-america-fix

 

I wish all the damn politicians would just get in one fucking room and stop being politicians and do their damn job in setting up a system in which all Americans can get good healthcare because … well … it is the best thing for our economy if nothing else. A healthy American, let’s say the 200 million or so who should be doing something, is a productive American. I am all for the social aspects of a good healthcare system where everyone has access to ongoing healthcare but, for god’s sake, I could make this argument based on productivity.

 

Stop politicizing the damn issue and just do your fucking job.

 

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“Let us be the ones who say we do not accept that a child dies every three seconds simply because he does not have the drugs you and I have. Let us be the ones to say we are not satisfied that your place of birth determines your right for life. Let us be outraged, let us be loud, let us be bold.”

Brad Pitt

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Written by Bruce