Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs-Tyranny
For sure the healthcare system in America has been in need of serious overhaul for sometime. One should give the President credit for tackling the system that is both expensive for those who's company does not provide health insurance. Which often results in many being uncovered due to the EXCEEDINGLY HIGH cost for private health insurance. Something I know a bit about having had to use COBRA coverage as my company continued on a ten year "rightsizing", which of course was in the name to remain competitive and thereby lose the fewest jobs possible. Net job loss over ten years; 1300 jobs. The wave of the future methinks.
Back to the point of the post. Many are enamored of ObamaCare and have been sold on how it will improve, if not solve our present healthcare nightmare. However, the truth is ObamaCare while having some positive benefits. mostly for the lower economic strata also carries with it some serious negatives. Interesting;y enough the plan was essentially crafted by the health insurance and drug industry lobbyists. That, in and of itself should scare the hell out of people.
Something certainly needs to be done. However, ObamaCare is not the answer as it is nothing more than a juggling of the current system with some added safeguards for the poor or indigent. Many which already exist today and are covered by tax dollars. What we need is a market based healthcare system which allows for open competition and is regulated to the degree that uncontrolled profiteering by insurance companies and big pharmaceuticals are controlled and capped. While profit is a VERY important consideration the pursuit of ever higher profit margins should not trump affordable healthcare for American citizens. Perhaps America ought to collaborate with countries who have a better healthcare system the the USA and adopt what has been shown to work.
Perhaps it is time for the USA to get down from it's lofty perch believing everything American is always the best and start looking at what may really be the best.
POLITICO - Scarred by years of Republican attacks over Obamacare, with more in store next year, Democrats have settled on an unlikely strategy for the 2014 midterms: Bring it on.
Party strategists believe that embracing the polarizing law — especially its more popular elements — is smarter politics than fleeing from it in the House elections. The new tack is a marked shift from 2010, when Republicans pointed to Obamacare as Exhibit A of Big Government run amok on their way to seizing the House from Democrats.
But the Democratic bear hug, reflecting a calculation it’s probably impossible to shed their association with the law even if they wanted to, is still a high-wire public relations act. The White House has consistently struggled with messaging on Obamacare, hoping the public would gain an appreciation for the health care makeover as its benefits became apparent. That never really happened, but Democrats seem to be banking that it finally will.
The strategy will be put to the test as the law kicks in next year and is implemented in the months leading up to the election — with the inevitable snafus and critical media coverage as the public gets its first up-close view of the massive undertaking.
California Rep. Scott Peters, a freshman Democrat who narrowly won election last year, said he doesn’t agree with every part of the law. But he said he’s not afraid of addressing health care — far from it.
“I don’t have any problem talking about it,” Peters, who hails from a San Diego-area swing district, said in an interview. “I think it’s a big issue. I think it’s going to be talked about more than immigration or guns.”
One early sign of the shift: After House Republicans brought a health care repeal measure to the floor last month — the 37th time they’ve tried — Peters joined a cast of other Democratic incumbents from competitive districts to criticize the GOP for the maneuver.
In 2010, Democratic congressional candidates in tough races actively promoted their opposition to the just-passed law, in some cases running ads blasting it. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee privately instructed members and candidates to change the subject if they were asked about the health care law in town hall meetings or on the campaign trail. {Read More}
POLITICO's website naming the top five complaints about ObamaCare.
Via: Memeorandum
