Is “Obamacare” Good for the Country?

If you’ve listened to President Obama and the Democrats since 2009, you’d think that “Obamacare” was the greatest invention since sliced bread. Well, is it?

First off, ever since it has been written (and even though no legislator had read it all), and the public has been made aware of its provisions (which is over 2,700 pages long), the public seems to think it’s not what it’s cracked up to be. Today, approximately 60% of the public thinks it is not what it wants and many of those want it to be repealed. Even one of the architects of Obamacare, Sen. Max Baucus (D), thinks that it’s a “train wreck” ready to happen. His words, not mine.

In addition, many of its early supporters now seem to have second thoughts and want to be exempted from its provisions. Even many of the legislators who voted to pass “Obamacare” (only Democrats voted for it) want waivers from it’s provisions as well as for their staffs; the workers at the I.R.S. (those who will be charged with enforcing the law against the rest of us) want no part of it; some of the big unions (ex: the Teamsters and the S.E.I.U.) want waivers and want the government to subsidize their members; and many young people, those between the ages of 18 and 34 (who Obama needs badly to sign up, to make “Obamacare” work), will be hit with higher premiums to help fund the older workers who will need more medical care. Maybe Nancy Pelosi was correct when she said, “We’ll find out what’s in it (Obamacare) after we pass it”, well, it seems that the public doesn’t like what they’ve found out upon further examination of the myriad of provisions forced down their throats by the Democrat controlled Congress.

What is it that people don’t seem to like? Here’s just a few. People were told or it was suggested to them that “Obamacare” was FREE. But, health insurance is not free under the “(Un)Affordable Care Act”. Even if your income does not exceed 400% of the federal poverty level, meaning those at the top of the scale receive less subsidy than those at the bottom of the scale, but it is not FREE. Additionally, you cannot accept your employers insurance and have your spouse and children go the exchange, if your employer offers a “qualified” plan.

Many people are under the delusion that “Obamacare” is going to lower the cost of their health insurance. That is totally false, the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) estimated that individual market premiums are going to be between 27-30% higher in 2014. In addition, “Obamacare” is not good for business. Aside from the hospitals and medical providers laying off personnel, we also have examples of major companies like Kohl’s, which has cut the majority of its full-time employees to part-time (working 29 ½ hours or less) in order to fall below the new 30-hour definition of full-time employment, so it does not have to offer health insurance. Multiply that by many more companies doing the same thing.

And, contrary to what Obama and the Democrats say, they have included in the act, the “Independent Payment Advisory Board” (made up of un-elected government bureaucrats) which will make decisions about who, what, when or where a person can or cannot get treatment. That is what many opponents of the law are calling “Obama’s Death Panel”. What else would you call it?

Well, we could go on and on, but I think you get the drift that “Obamacare” if far from giving us the health care reform that we all seem to want or need. Maybe Obama and the Democrats should include the Republicans in any future changes, so that a truly, more bi-partisan law can be enacted that will benefit all the people, not just a select few of the Obama and Democratic cronies and fat-cat campaign contributors and corporations.

Therefore, our decision is that “Obamacare” is not good for America. And so the world turns!

Conservative commentary by Chuck Lehmann