On June 28th
of last year the U.S Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act’s provision
that individuals may pay a penalty for not obtaining health insurance, as that
may be reasonably characterized as a tax.
The only way
to get a different result is to make a change.
Granted, the new system with insurance exchanges will likely not solve
all the issues. It will likely make
insurance much more affordable and accessible for many people though.
People with health
insurance don’t wait as long to see doctors and so get care when conditions are
preventable, more treatable and less costly.
People
without health coverage wait longer to see doctors and so get care when conditions
are advanced, less treatable and more costly.
And who picks up those increased costs?
Well…there
is no free ride…on anything. Uninsured
people in any system do not get free health care. The costs are simply spread among everyone by
the way of higher fees, higher premiums and an erosion of benefits.
Insurance 101
means gathering as large a pool of people as you can in order to collect the
lowest premiums possible to be able to cover the anticipated claims of the community. Having more people in the pool is better. Except regarding adverse selection, and this can
be avoided if younger and generally healthier people are incorporated.
But instead
of trying to work from simplicity and common sense there are too many people trying
to add complexity and nonsense into the equation.
If the
Affordable Care Act were to fail, that’s okay.
Another change can begin.
Doing
nothing….well that’s a failure from the get go.
© 2013
Christopher’s Views
You have said it very well, Christopher, and I do SO agree with you! As an "OLD" broad, I do try to stay healthy and have been successful so far, hopefully, I can continue! I don't want my kids to have to take care of me! Always good to see your post, Christopher! Hope things are going well for you and your family. Take care.
ReplyDeleteSylvia
so true on the doing nothing...do i have any answers, not really...i am pretty sick of the threat to shut down the govt to defeat anything the other side does...i hope they shut down...lets start by laying off politicians, not the govt workers...
ReplyDeleteYou're right. Something must be done.
ReplyDeletethis morning Rosanna Scotto from channel 5 news said something like, let Congress's salary be on the line until they come up with a solution -sounds like a plan to me. & what time did congress convene today, 2pm? sometimes I think the only reason the two parties are so divided is to keep the public preoccupied with stupid crap so we won't remember that they are supposed to be working for us!
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of the millions of people who do not have basic medical care and how that inevitably affects all of us, it just boggles my mind that some of us don't want something as essential as good health care for everyone. We have to start somewhere.
Government in the United States has been broken and bleeding money for a long time...
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, government is still shut down as of this moment.
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable. The richest nation in the world can’t decide on something as basic as healthcare.
It boggles the mind.
It certainly won’t help the economy either, neither in the US nor world wide.
Things are very much the same here...we all so desperately need a positive shake-up at the governmental level.
ReplyDeleteIf only...
Absolutely. In my book, the ACA doesn't go far enough, but it's a start in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteIt's heartbreaking that they can't see the forest for the trees. Making complex what would be simple and reasonable...which is really my definition of government anyhow.
ReplyDelete