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EDITOR:
Jamie and Larry Beutler brought clarity and common sense to the debate over the Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare.” They pointed out that our previous health care system may be the best in the world for those in Congress and other fortunate persons who have the money or insurance together with the medical sophistication to access and pay for the best.
But it is an “also ran” for most people when compared with every other industrialized nation’s health care system. Further, it costs nearly twice as much as the next most expensive system in the world, but leaves 30 million citizens without basic health care.
The Republican’s desire to repeal the Affordable Care Act passed just two years ago, even before it is fully operational, is folly. Since they offer no alternative plan, it would take us back to an expensive and unsustainable health care system that leaves out too many of our citizens.
I find this morally outrageous for the richest country on the planet. Furthermore, the CBO estimates that a repeal would increase the national debt by $109 billion over the next 10 years, so the deficit is not an excuse..
The Affordable Care Act is not perfect and will no doubt need fine tuning, including consideration of a single payer option to keep the insurance companies honest. But Social Security and Medicare were improved with time and experience, so let’s not allow the United States to be the only industrialized nation without a health care system for all.
TED PHILLIPS
Camino
The Mountain Democrat does not necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy
marjorieAugust 07, 2012 - 10:03 am
Either we all get the health care benefits Congress enjoys, or Congress gets the health care benefits we, the people, get. When that happens, watch how quickly health care improves in this country!!!
common senseAugust 07, 2012 - 10:28 am
I have three daughters in college who now are allowed to participate in my wife’s health care plan because of the Affordable Care Act. Going without health care because of the cost when you have daughter’s hurts. Its just common sense to support the Affordable Health Care Act. Thank you Ted.
Jack MartinAugust 07, 2012 - 1:37 pm
The democrats got egg on their face in 1993 with the public's abject repudiation of "HillaryCare." So complete was its repudiation, that it was thought by political pundits to have led directly to the 1994 "Republican Revolution." But the democrats didn't give up. They began enacting legislation and non-legislative rules and regulations on hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, doctors and HMO's that deliberately drove up the price of health care. Why? So sheep like Ted would come crying to the government "Please do something." It only took 17 years, pretty rapid by political standards, to fundamentally change an entire industry and literally commandeer 1/6 of the country's economy. Certainly Hillary would have liked to have had her name on the "Affordable" Care Act, but I bet even she was surprised to see that their plan was achieved in less than two decades. Man, you people are gullible.
James E.August 07, 2012 - 3:27 pm
Mr. Martin, Medicare For All would commandeer 1/6th of the country's economy away from the health insurance companies (who put profit over care). Sadly, Obamacare just shifts a lot of new business to them.
Who's smiling now?August 07, 2012 - 5:11 pm
1965 (Johnson) Medicare/Medicaid; 1973 (Nixon) HMO Act; 1974 (Nixon) ERISA; 1986 (Reagan) EMTALA; 1988 (Reagan) CLIA; 1996 (Clinton) HIPAA; 1997 (Clinton) SCHIP; 2003 (Bush) Medicare, Part D; 2010 (Obama) PPACA. And what did we get? The most expensive medical system on earth. Why? Profits piled upon profits for private hospitals, diagnostic centers, insurance companies, accountants, attorneys & management consultants made necessary by the enormous litigation and regulatory compliance costs.
TerryAugust 10, 2012 - 8:47 pm
Why is healthcare so expensive? Is it really the greedy hospitals, doctors, and insurance companies? Or is it us because we think that if some else pays, it is free? How much would auto insurance cost if the insurance company had to pay for oil changes, tires, brake jobs, tune ups, hose replacement, radiator flushes, transmission service, etc. Every time a third party is billed there is added overhead cost for the service supplier as well as for the insurance provider. This overhead cost gets added to the bill as does a certain percentage of markup to provide profit for the labor involved. This additional cost gets passed to the purchaser of insurance. Now in the case of healthcare, add a layer of government bureaucracy and watch the costs, some hidden, sky rocket even higher. Insurance should be for catastrophic losses not routine maintenance. Every time we ask government to intervene and add more mandated benefits, cost goes up. Those costs go up far more than the actual costs of the services we are demanding since we are adding overhead and profits to the costs. So your free annual checkups, free contraceptive, free 24-26 year old adult “child” are ultimately not very free. Those costs get socialized or passed on to all of us. Why did ObamaCare not address tort reform? Why did ObamaCare shrink not expand HSA & FSA accounts since these allow the users to control costs directly? Why did they raise the deduction threshold for those of us with high healthcare costs? Why does the government need my medical records in their databases when my doctors are providing that already as a cost cutting measure? Why tax medical device providers if you are trying to control costs? Why set up a system that will drive providers out of business or to serve only cash paying customers? Nothing in ObamaCare is designed to drive down costs.
REPEALAugust 11, 2012 - 10:19 am
Antipsychotic Prescriptions in Children Have Skyrocketed @ http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/09/antipsychotic-prescriptions-in-children-have-skyrocketed-study/
REPEALAugust 11, 2012 - 10:21 am
Time: Docs Pushing More Illegally Marketed Dangerous Hard Drugs on Kids @ http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2012/08/10/time-docs-pushing-illegally-marketed-dangerous-hard-drugs-kids-165331/
TerryAugust 11, 2012 - 11:03 am
Repeal, antidepressants and antipsychotics can have devastating affects in adults as well as children. Parents need to study the side effects of these drugs before allowing doctors to prescribe them. There recently were TV ads concerning Zoloft and fetal heart defects. Heart defects can occur in adults as well as infants. These drugs can cause the onset of diabetes, heart defects, Parkinsonism, neurological disorders, etc. For more information on the effectiveness of antidepressants, read the book “The Emperor’s New Drugs”. I would advise any parent to seriously think twice and to do some research before letting any doctor prescribe these mind numbing drugs.
REPEALAugust 11, 2012 - 11:16 am
Terry, too true. Thousands of pages "healthcare" legislation written by insurance and pharmaceutical companies that legislators couldn't study before passage is about profit, not health. Public deception by greedy pill pushers causes untold and generally unacknowledged damage.
barf 2012August 11, 2012 - 8:39 pm
I don't think any posters' here and 99.999999% of the population could or should have an opinion about obummercare without reading and understanding every sentence of this act. I can guarantee you, Hussain has not.
TerryAugust 11, 2012 - 10:27 pm
So if only 1 in a billion have read it and only they can have an opinion, then by your own words only about 7 people in the world know whats in it. Hence, the 535 in Congress and the one in the WH should never have approved the bill. On those grounds alone and by your own words, it should be repealed.