My experience with the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, has been interesting to say the least. Many hate it with such a vengeance that they foam at the mouth when the word is mentioned; then I have contact with people who believe that the ACA reforms are wonderful!
Many I have visited with about the ACA have a wide range of incomes. Some are very low, some are disabled or elderly and some are working families with a bit more income that's still not sufficient to purchase health insurance for their children. I also hear from middle- to upper-income folks who have family members who were denied coverage due to some pre-existing condition who are now being insured and they are overjoyed that their new policies are costing less than they feared.
My early on amateur evaluation caused me to smell a rat when the Republicans/Tea Party officials put out false information about the reforms. Those claims of death panels, forced computer-chip implants in everyone, predictions that the ACA was going to lead to massive unemployment and that it was going to bust the budget and lead to horrific higher deficits were false. Not one of these criticisms proved to be true.
One rather sad and heartless false claim was that health care would be denied to older residents. Another misleading claim was that patients with serious illnesses would be denied treatment or cut off at some pre-determined level as was being done prior to the ACA.
So, knowing that I had an under-educated brain, I asked myself this question: If the ACA is so very bad, as the opponents claim, why did they feel that they had to manufacture lies about it? Why not tell the people the truth and let them decide?
Efforts by the administration to counter the bizarre claims faced a relentless campaign of political propaganda that can and did drown out facts. The administration admitted that reform of something as massive and complex as our health-care system could not be accomplished without some glitches and adjustments after it was introduced. That was to be expected, but every time the adjustments were made to address those unforeseen circumstances, the president was labeled a liar and the program was deemed a failure.
Actual reports, not anecdotal, from actual insurance agents have told me that some customers declared with vengeance that they would never touch Obamacare but when the ACA was explained to them, they loved it!
Obviously, much hatred of the reforms is spawned by resentment of the president. I don't think that opinion is debatable. Some I think have their resentment grounded in a distrust of government in general, and many are very resentful of seeing the working-poor families receive subsidies when they don't.
That is the most common complaint I hear. Many are of the opinion that the system simply has too many "freeloaders."
However, many with very low incomes or disabilities receive Medicaid benefits not related to the ACA. Those who don't qualify for Medicaid but can't afford health insurance can receive subsidies to help offset the costs, and that irritates some people. However, even the hardest of hearts probably don't wish to see the children of those families go untreated when they become ill.
So, the new system isn't perfect, but reforms were definitely needed.
Another widespread glaring falsehood was that the government is taking over our health care. The truth is that the ACA is injecting competition into a marketplace that had little to none, and private insurers are still writing policies and private hospitals are still treating the sick. There is no federal takeover. There is a new set of guidelines or standards in place designed to lower the runaway costs of health care and to bring more people into the system, which should help control costs for all.
Will society as a whole be healthier in the future due to the reforms? One would think so, due to more emphasis on preventive measures, and now we have lifesaving procedures being offered that were cost-prohibitive pre-ACA.
Time will reveal the outcome, but at this moment, I have to hearken back to the multitude of misinformation that was distributed and repeat the question: If it's so darned bad, why did they have to lie about it?
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Harvey Joe Sanner lives in Des Arc.
Editorial on 06/12/2015