So I feel like I need to bring some light to the current healthcare reform situation for some people who may not understand a few issues that may come from it. I don't know absolutely every detail of it, but I had this discussion with my mom, and I think there are some things we need to think about. I think everyone agrees we need healthcare reform, and many healthcare systems in other countries are really great, especially those in some countries in Europe. I know Greece isn't the greatest example to use right now, since their economy is imploding, but their healthcare system was fantastic when I was there in the summer of 2008. I woke up one morning on my vacation with strep throat, so the owner of the hotel where I was staying drove me to the hospital. I probably waited about 5 minutes to be seen, the doctor knew exactly what he was doing and got me in and out and diagnosed in maybe 10 minutes tops, and everything was just super efficient. He prescribed me medication that was really easy to find at a pharmacy down the road, and the medicine only cost me about $6. The hospital visit didn't cost me a penny. And guess what? I took the medicine and felt 90% better the next morning. My vacation was saved! I missed going on a donkey ride that day due to having to go to the hospital instead, but hey, I ended up riding a donkey later on on that vacation anyway, so all ended well. The point is, there are so many other healthcare systems that are better than the one the U.S. currently has.
Problems with our current healthcare system: We rely way too heavily on insurance companies. They are blood-sucking leeches that make you pay out the wazoo for insurance and then can decide not to pay or to only pay a certain percentage when you need them the most. They essentially decide who lives and who dies. If you are considered high-risk of dying on them (like if you're too old or too sick,) then they can decide not to cover you and not to pay for your medical bills. And then some people can't afford health insurance. So if something happens to them, they're screwed. People refrain from going to the hospital, because they can't afford it, and sometimes these people have serious problems that need immediate medical attention. It's sad to think that so many people don't get the healthcare they need, simply because they don't have the money to pay. And it's crazy how one minor injury that needs medical attention before it becomes serious can cost a person hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Very few people have that kind of money in their back pocket these days.
I'm not going to sit here and say I'm a huge Obama supporter. I'm not. I don't hate him, but I'm not a huge supporter. However, I do also realize that his original Obamacare plan looked really great, but since our majority Republican Congress didn't like the idea of a universal healthcare system, they completely re-shaped Obamacare and turned it into the mess that it currently is. So to be fair, we can't really blame Obama for this ridiculousness. Nonetheless, it is ridiculousness. It is a system that only works by an idealistic view, not a realistic one. For instance, the conversation my mom and I had about this was the fact that is is now illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage to someone who has a pre-existing condition. This means that anyone who ends up with cancer or has a heart attack or anything of the sorts will not be denied insurance coverage. That sounds great. That sounds so incredibly perfect and valiant - in theory. In reality, we can expect that insurance companies are going to be spending way more money covering all these people, which means either they aren't going to be able to pay and will go out of business, OR they will charge way more for their services. Which one do you think they'll do? They're going to end up charging so much for health insurance that only the rich will be able to afford coverage, which means the poor and middle class will be stuck with no health insurance. This is going to cause an even bigger problem than we already have! Of course I agree that we need healthcare reform. Of course I think healthcare is a right, not a wealthy privilege. Of course I think something needs to be done, and of course I want a better system. But going about it in an idealistic way is only going to make the problem worse.
And there's another big problem I'd like to bring to light. Under Obamacare, now any employer who hires an employee to work at least 25 hours a week has to provide health insurance for that employee. This sounds amazing - but again, only in theory. Now, employers are cutting back on their employees' hours and laying people off, because they can't afford to pay their health insurance. I actually know a guy who had to go from working 40 hours a week to less than 25 hours a week because of this mandate. So now he has to find another job on top of the one that he has, just so he can pay his bills, AND he still doesn't have his health insurance paid for!
Now there are all kinds of other arguments that can be made on this matter, but those are the only ones I wanted to address, because I think a lot of people, including Congress, are not thinking logically on that particular matter. There are all kinds of arguments to be made and all kinds of flaws in Obamacare, though. I've actually included some of them, along with statistics, in the pictures below. That being said, there are a lot of good things coming from it too. I, being a female, am quite happy that birth control is now going to be easily accessible come January 1, 2014. Please, anyone feel free to make any kind of argument about Obamacare below. I welcome feedback, rebuttals, and add-ons.
Interesting.
Some interesting statistics in argument FOR Obamacare, which are interesting.
Another criticism of Obamacare: Wait time for surgeries are expected to increase dramatically. You could die while waiting to get that kidney transplant.
There is no doubt that Obamacare comes from some good intentions, and there's no doubt some people are benefiting... But it really just benefits the impoverished, and then the rich are able to afford whatever they need on their own, which completely ignores the middle class, which I bet this woman is not apart of.
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