Why Would You Not Want Health Care?

I find it inexplicable that anyone would not want this health care law, nicknamed (with derision by some) as Obamacare to stand. Is it because of buying into the many lies thrown about in as cavalier a fashion as I've ever seen lies strewn on the political scene?

Everyone is part of the health care system: few people are born outside a hospital or other health care facility these days. And one need not be ill to be part of the health care system as there are childhood vaccinations, prenatal care, physical wellness and insurance exams, and so on. A majority of people die in the hospital, or at least under medical care. No one escapes the health care system.

That some people make greater use of it than others cannot be denied, but it is difficult to proclaim with absolute certainty that someone not much in need of health care today will not suddenly need much more tomorrow. Keeping that in mind, one cannot elude the fact that health care is not free and thus an economic activity.

The Affordable Health Care Act is an important first step in reforming our health care system. To repeal it would be a step backward. What puzzles me however is the role of the health insurance companies. As far as I can see, they determine which doctors I can or cannot see, which medications they will cover and, in so many words, attempt to practice medicine—-without a license. All in the name of making money. Whenever they say no, they profit and I suffer. And yet people are complaining about the government as if insurance companies have not getting between people and their health care management for years now.

We must not go backwards. Repealing this law would mean giving back to the insurance companies all the power they claimed before, such as refusing people for preexisting conditions (or charging them more), setting a cap on yearly and lifetime expenses. This last is usually a giant surprise to people. Until someone has the misfortune to get something awful like cancer. It is at this point, somewhere in the middle of treatment that the insurance company says, "Oops, lifetime cap has been met. We're dropping you."

The shock of losing medical insurance is curious because somehow said person feels that getting coverage through work means you can't lose insurance. And so there is always initial denial. But eventually in such cases, not only was the loss of coverage true, but depending on the severity of the illness, bankruptcy may be imminent.

When you go through the new health care bill and note exactly how it will work and that it will make medical care cheaper--and not more expensive as rumor would have us believe--I can't believe that people would want to go back to the old lunacy. No wonder we have been thirty-fifth in healthcare among developed nations.