Thursday, June 28, 2012

My Take on Obamacare

Sorry I don't want this to turn into a debate or anything. I usually wouldn't be talking about politics but health care is a sensitive issue for me so I have to get this off my chest.

First off let me say that I never thought I'd be backing Obama. As far as I was concerned in the last election Obama was scum of the earth and was surely going to destroy America. When he was elected into office I was pregnant with Jayda and I remember hearing a bunch of people were even naming their babies after him. Barf.

Then...I took an American Government class and it changed my entire perspective on politics. Now keep in mind I grew up listening to Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levine, The Savage Nation, you name it. Hard core conservatives and I thought they knew their shiz...

In political classes during my education it was easy to detect a liberal and my ears were turned off the entire time. But this one teacher was different. He presented current issues in a way that was neutral and showed both sides so that WE could decide what we believed and not be fed bull or a slanted angle on one side. In fact, he didn't tell us who he voted for or how his views were until the end of the class. So refreshing.

It changed my entire perspective. I learned how the law actually works. How even the founding fathers disagreed in fundamental issues that mimics what we are still fighting today. That Obama isn't the sole power. He's just one branch of the government. As far as I'm concerned the most corrupt branch of government is Congress, but do they take the wrap half the time? NO! They have a president for that. Obama is ONE person. ONE branch of government. Which is exactly how the founding fathers wanted it. So when people used the argument that the founding fathers would be "rolling in their graves" if they knew Obama was in office was crap. They would probably be rolling in their graves knowing the corrupt system that is congress and how they act like little school children. They waste far more of our tax dollars on their crazy high salaries and their fighting back and forth taking up time and not working together to come to a consensus. They are more worried about their careers than they are the American people and that is a fact!

Now as far as Obamacare, I think the one main thing that Obama has failed in is education. Educating and informing what Obamacare even is. For the longest time many people didn't understand it. And I think a lot of people STILL don't understand. They just fight against it because 1. Their parents say they should 2. It originates from Obama and of course he's ruining America one issue at a time 3. They didn't know enough about it

The affordable health care act has been our saving grace. Last June Chase was laid off. He worked at a bank and his entire branch got closed down. Everyone lost their jobs. No job=no health insurance. Luckily, with the affordable health care act I was able to get on my parents insurance and we were saved. Had that been overturned today I would have lost my primary insurance.

The fact is when Obama presented Obamacare he did NOT want it to be a tax. He specifically wanted a mandate, but the Supreme Court said that the only way for it to pass would to use it as a tax. This is not anything new. If you live in a place where you need flood insurance and you don't have flood insurance you get taxed differently than if you do have flood insurance. So this is not a new idea, but yes it is NOT what Obama wanted. It just kind of ended up that way.

Also, even if it was a mandate I wouldn't have a problem with it. Because it DOES effect other people. If you have kids and you don't have health insurance then you are effecting poor innocent kids that don't have that option.

What Obamacare does:

1. Makes it so that women don't pay more for health insurance than men.
2. Makes it possible for those under 26 to be on their parents insurance.
3. Makes it impossible to be denied because of a pre-existing condition.

Why are these bad things again?

1. If we provided preventative care especially for women then we would actually save money. If you provide $30 a month of birth control instead of having to pay $2000-$3000 for delivering a baby...after baby after baby....why wouldn't that make sense? If you pay for a routine pap/mammogram to ALL women instead of waiting til they have cervical or breast cancer then how would that not save money in the end?

2. Being on my parents health insurance effects them in no way. They don't pay more and I don't pay anything. Their insurance is my primary insurance. My secondary insurance is medicaid. If I did not have primary insurance guess who would be footing my delivery bill? Medicaid. My primary insurance (thanks to Obama) covers everything but $150 for my whole pregnancy. Saving money to struggling families and the economy. My husband could not help that he got laid off.

3. Honestly, I understand that insurance is a business so my argument is more on an ethical standpoint. I just think its wrong that these big insurance companies who pump loads of money in can't cover people who have illnesses and pretty much screw them over. In fact, after my husband got laid off and lost his benefits I made him immediately go get his own insurance. Man it was TOUGH. He was denied because I took clomid and they said if I was to get pregnant there would be a chance that that new baby (who would be high risk) could be on his insurance. I wasn't the one trying to get insurance HE was, yet he was denied based on a medication I took. They were denying him for someone who may possibly be on his insurance down the road. Bizarro.

We had a friend that has Chrones disease. They live without health insurance because no one will cover him. When his wife had knee surgery they had to pay for it out of pocket. Just not right. And don't even get me started when talking about kids. How kids dying of heart failure can be denied over a technicality. Not very Christlike Mr. Romney.

Overall, I think people just need to be informed on the issue at hand instead of joining the bandwagon. I think a lot of people just follow what their parents beliefs are without even investigating it themselves....I used to. The main thing that bothers me is that people refuse to get educated on an issue and hear both sides of the issue first. That was one thing I learned in my AG class. Don't just watch CNN watch Fox too. Get both sides of the issue and THEN comment. You may actually find yourself on the opposite end of what you thought you'd feel. And as far as talk radio. FEAR MONGERS. Thats how they make their money by casting fear in people. They are a business too, ya know. :)

8 comments:

  1. Thank you for this! My fiance has epilepsy which is a serious disease but can be controlled by medication. Without insurance, he would not have a neurologist and he could die. He is almost 24 which is the age where he would be off of insurance int he past but thanks to Obama he has 2 more years. Also the affordable health care act will save our butts in the future because he was quoted $500-$600 for health insurance that he would have to pay every month. This new healthcare system can save lives!

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  2. Thank you for your input! I haven't really paid much attention to what Obamacare really is. I should really educate myself on that topic! We are "finally" (It's been about 1.5 years) that we're on our own insurance. We've had two kids on Medicaid previously.

    But from your 3 points about Obamacare, it sounds like a good thing!

    Hmm...we probably are still paying too much for insurance though. I mean we're a family of 4 and all healthy. But insurance is about 15% of our income. That doesn't sound good.

    But glad you were able to get help when you needed it to be on your parent's insurance!

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  3. The problem that everyone is worried about is how much more control the government has over our lives. Government should not be in control of these these things. Yes, something needs to be done about insurance, but it shouldn't be the government calling the shots.
    While there may be some good points in Obamacare... it is still scary. We should never be told you HAVE to do this or you WILL be penalized. It's just one more freedom being taken from us.
    Obamacare is also changing the coverage that people will receive who are on medicaid. For the people who abuse medicaid, I'm ok with that! But the people who truly need the help, and the retired elderly, this is going to cause serious problems for them.

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    1. You can barely call it penalized. Its just an extra tax and it makes sense. Basically what it is that people can no longer go to the hospital and then put their bill off on taxpayers because they refuse to get health insurance. The tax covers that. Also they make it affordable and easy to get a hold of so there really is no excuse.

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  4. I agree with Courtney, the goverenment should not be incontrol of health care. It is not their place.
    Taxes will go up for everyone. Social Medicine is not free, it will cost tax payers millions. Hawaii called it quits on their social medicine after just 7 months because it was to big of a finacial strain on the state.
    This bill gives the government more control than they should have over the lives of Americans. People should not be fined if they choose not to carry health insurance. Maybe they should have looked into fixing Medicare and Medicaid instead of making another bill.
    I have lived in a country with social medicine. It is not a good system. No person should have to wait on the government to tell them they can have their hernia repair or their tonsils removed.
    This is the biggest tax increase in America's history.

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  5. Here is a great article on way obamacare is good. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/five-reasons-why-the-obamacare-decision-might-not-be-as-bad-as-you-think/

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