Will Obama pay a political price for his lies?
As I have stated before, I liked one of the 'stated' goals of Obamacare, to level the playing field, so to speak. Many of us are lucky enough to have been born healthy. But we all know people that suffer with lifelong ailments, which occurred through no fault of their own, and which can be catastrophically expensive.
No one deserves to be so penalized for being born with chronic medical conditions. And while I'm no expert on the economics of healthcare, it seems fair to me that we could all pay an "average" amount into some pool. Those who are healthy might never need that money. Those that are sick through no fault of their own, could have the security of knnowing that they won't lose everything because of something they had no control over.
I don't know if Obamacare was the best way to accomplish this, but I liked the idea of that.
Anyway, the fact is, Obama was unbelievably dishonest when he repeatedly stated that if you liked your plan, you could keep it - "period". There was no ambiguity or qualifying limitations in his statements. Millions and millions of Americans will have an experience that's very different from what he promised.
Many folks who currently pay a small premium for basic, catastrophic coverage...will see huge premium increases as they move to plans that have the mandated bells and whistles. My bet is that people will remember that next November. Many people will pay hundreds of dollars more a month.
You could argue that as a sociaty, we are better off if everyone has more comprehensive coverage, and that as a society, human decency dictates that we all pay a share to help the small number of Americans with chronic health issues. Unfortunately for Obama, he chose not to sell it that way, and he deserves the shellacking that he's getting right now.
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