I hate Obamacare.
There...I said it.
I have always thought that it was some of the worst piece of shit legislation ever penned.
Rarely has there been a piece of legislation with more loopholes, exclusions, special exemptions, perks, and kickbacks than the Affordable Care Act. Well, other than TARP and Dodd-Frank.
We went into 2009 under the belief that we would get healthcare reform, and instead, we got health insurance reform. The idea was that we were going to provide healthcare for every American citizen, and in so doing, we would ensure healthier Americans, a more productive citizenry, and we would stop running a "sick care" system, and start running a "healthcare" system.
Yeah, that didn't happen.
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While I can't (and won't) get into the particulars of why the legislation is doomed to fail in the longrun, I will go into how we ended up with this bastardized attempt at addressing a decades-old problem in this nation.
It started on day one of the healthcare debates. With barely the blink of an eye, the prospect of a Single-Payer system (AKA - Universal Healthcare paid for by everyone's tax dollars) was immediately off the table. The very idea that both Clinton and Obama pushed during the Democratic primary season, and upon which the Democratic platform's hopes were placed, was dashed against the rocks in the Congressional Sea.
Why? Because Republicans and a handful of Blue Dog Democrats would never vote for it. So, in the name of expediency, the very system voters said they wanted was cast aside, and then, they got down to the bullshit.
There were all of these other options, but what we ended up with was insurance reform. We took the enemy, for-profit insurance providers whose rates were already astronomical, and basically said, "Here ya' go! Have everybody who can afford to pay your rates, and everyone who can't, we'll toss into the Medicare/Medicaid pool. Oh, and you can charge whatever you want, and we won't do anything to stop you."
So, instead of solving the problem of unaffordable healthcare, we expanded the problem of unaffordable healthcare. With almost half of the nation one personal financial crisis away from falling below the poverty line, exactly what kind of health insurance is "affordable?"
Oh, that's right - NO health insurance is the most affordable plan for people who can't afford insurance.
But, then we've got this genius system of the state's expanding their Medicaid and Medicare coverage to pick up the people who can't afford insurance - but, only if you make below a specific dollar amount per year.
Oh, yeah, and there's that glitch that leaves families whose employers refuse to chip in for family premiums, but cannot afford the entire cost of the family premium are inadvertently locked out of the subsidies provided by the government to help cover the cost.
Just awesome.
So, basically we got insurance reform ramrodded through the legislative process without it really being checked to make sure stupid shit didn't happen.
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Don't get me wrong - I don't agree with Republicans who say that they didn't get their say in the bill. In fact, their say in the bill is how we ended up in this mess in the first place.
In an attempt to cull Republican votes, the authors of the bill specifically incorporated several traditionally Republican ideas into the bill (that never really work), and then, none of the Republicans who contributed those ideas voted for them.
To my way of thinking, if they're not going to vote for it after they've had their say, rip out every single proposal they snuck in, and go ahead with your own plan without their bullshit in it.
Additionally, I know that it was "historic" that someone finally did "something" about healthcare, but as someone who is currently being covered by those "safety net" programs they're so proud of, I would've rather had comprehensive reform toward a universal coverage system.
Some of the main reason why healthcare is so unaffordable weren't even addressed - stabilizing the cost of medical care, surgeries, and other procedures; lowering the cost of prescription medication regardless of whether or not the pharmaceutical companies like it; deal with other issues involving the cost of living that would make it possible to work fewer than three jobs that you can take time away from when you're sick to make ends meet; do away with employer exemptions that allow them to determine what they will cover (why should religious nuts be exempted from covering contraception? There is no reason - they're just cunts).
None of these issues have, or likely will be, addressed in this nation, and frankly, doing so might very well required a violent and bloody revolution (with the Republicans and the rich on the losing side - we can address weight loss by chopping off 10 lbs. of "head weight").
As that's unlikely to occur, we're stuck with Obamacare.
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