So the SCOTUS, as we are calling it these days, has upheld Obamacare. If I were President Obama, besides carrying around my birth certificate so that I could pull it out every now and then to remind people that Hawaii is a state, I would get a tattoo on my arm that says Obamacare in great big letters. Except that tattoos hurt and anyone who tells you otherwise needs to call the fire department and immediately buy new pants, preferably not skinny jeans.
With a stroke of pen, which I assume was not a bic or one of those random pens I find in my car from some business establishment I've never visited , President Obama managed to forever seal his place in history as the man who at least did something. Mitt Romney enacted a surprisingly similar law in Massachusetts and all he got was a reputation for flip-flopping and the enduring suspicions of the Tea Party. Which reminds me of some enduring questions I've always had about the tea party.
I wonder if tea party members call each other by tea nicknames and eat tea cookies? If I were a member of the tea party I would call myself Rooibos and eat the hell out of some lemon cremes. I feel sorry for the guy who got the nickname chamomile, I wonder if it is because he was late and Earl Gray was already taken? I'd ask these questions but I live in Portland and we really are much more of a coffee town.
I digress. Anyhow, having worked in the healthcare industry for a number of years, I can say that Obamacare is not perfect, but it is hard to be worse than the fractured system we have had. I know, let the name calling commence, afterall calling someone a socialist is far easier than reading a health care law or even the definition of socialism on wikipedia or dictionary.com.
Even if you don't care about health care, consider a few points. Access to lower levels of treatment, ie PCP's and routine procedures, are far less expensive than emergency room care. The United States spends far more per capita on health care than other developed nations that have some sort of universal access to care. Most US health care entities operate on a fee for service basis. This sort of funding structure creates a need for additional levels of bureaucracy and complex systems of billing and administrative approval.
Once again, while far from perfect, the Obamacare bill is at least an attempt to close gaping holes in a system that is not really a system. Personally I would prefer something more centralized in scope. However we in the US seem to have a baseline level reactionary fear of anything that is centralized. We prefer to create multiple levels of bureaucracy by layering them through competing levels of government and privatizing to agencies that that have their own, additional levels of administration. This way always ends up being more expensive and inefficient in the end but at least they provide multiple job opportunities to people not providing actual care.
Finally a suggestion. If you don't like Obamacare and don't wish to participate, I'm looking at you Governor Rick Scott of Florida, I've read many wonderful articles on the health benefits of green tea. I'm not sure if that nickname has already been taken though.
*If you like the views expressed in this blog please feel free to tell me how wonderful I am. If you do not like my views feel free to get your own blog or talk to your mama. I have a rule against online arguments, I leave that to congress. God Bless everyone regardless of your circumstance or view.
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