ObamaCare: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

There’s a lot of good things about ObamaCare and some bad too, like the fact that it puts us on a slippery slope heading towards Soviet era Russia! Well, not really but there are some bad things about our new healthcare plan and some that are just plain ugly.

THE GOOD: 32 million uninsured Americans will now be covered! That is very good or as Joe Biden would say, “A big fucking deal!” Another boon for the average American is that Insurance companies will no longer be able to discriminate for pre-existing conditions and according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office the plan will reduce the national deficit! More good news comes in the form of tax credits for families making up to $88,000 a year and the expansion of Medicaid for the poor. Finally insurance companies will no longer be able to place lifetime caps on coverage and must report how much money they spend on medical care versus administrative costs. That last bit is a step that will be followed up by tighter government evaluation of premium increases. Now lets talk about my favorite part of the bill, and that’s who is going to pay for the bulk of this thing: THE RICH! Higher Medicare taxes on individuals making more than $200,000 and couples clearing more than $250,000 a year will pay for a huge chunk of this bill. And for the first time ever a new tax will be levied on investment income from the same high earners mentioned above. The new tax (3.8%) will apply to capital gains, dividends, and interest. It will NOT apply to 401(k) accounts and other retirement plans until the funds are withdrawn. And remember this is only for households making over $250,000 a year. When the new tax rates go into effect in 2013 the New York Times reports from a study by the Tax Policy Center that on average $1 million plus earners will contribute $46,000 in taxes to Obama’s evil Commie healthcare that will destroy the middle class! I’m paraphrasing a little but the numbers are solid I swear! The Good can be summed like this: a lot of people who did not have insurance are going to get it and the rich are going to pay for it. This is a clear reversal of the trickle up deregulate philosophy of Reaganomics and that is why the Republicans, i.e. the elite are so bent out of shape about this. Oh yeah, there is one last bit of good I want to pass on here and this is especially for those of you who think that the mandate violates your civil rights. There is a LOOPHOLE! That’s right, if you can convince the government that you practice Christian Science or some other religion that does not believe in medical treatment you can be exempted from the mandate!

Now on to…

THE BAD: No public option! That is my least favorite thing about this. Healthcare will not be truly reformed until it’s taken out of the for profit mind set. Which leads me to my next point; this is a giveaway to the insurance companies! While we’re giving people easier access to healthcare, we are in effect subsidizing the insurance industry and I’m not too crazy about that. I think the Republicans are just mad that they didn’t think of this thing first! Another problem with the legislation is that, thanks to President Obama’s sweetheart deal with PHARMA, the government will not have the power to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs or be able to import cheaper ones from Canada. Lastly, there’s the timeline. The majority of this stuff, the insurance exchanges for one, don’t go into effect until 2014. And the 40% tax on insurance companies that offer the so-called Cadillac Plans? That does not go into effect until 2018! The wheels are moving entirely to slow on this thing.

THE UGLY: Within days of Obama signing the healthcare bill into law, officials from 14 states announced they would sue the federal government, deeming it unconstitutional to require all citizens to purchase a healthcare plan. Think that’s ugly? We’re just getting warmed up; last week Senate Republicans, through invoking an obscure rule, refused to work past 2pm. This pettiness resulted in the shut down of the Veteran Affairs Committee’s hearing on helping homeless veterans. Then came the threats of violence; Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) received a cryptic voice mail, “You’re dead. We know where you live. We will get you.” And a gas line was severed at the home of Rep. Tom Perriello’s (D-VA) brother, after a Tea Party website posted what they believed to be the congressman’s address. In all at least 10 Democratic lawmakers have reported threats of violence or acts of vandalism. But the most ugly thing to come out of all this is that the Republicans have once again tricked the middle class (I’m talking to you Tea Baggers) into voting against their own interests. It seems that the people who are the most vehemently against this are the ones who could benefit the most from ObamaCare.

It’s been nice to see Obama finally grow a pair and it seems that the Dems are poised to use the momentum from their healthcare victory on reigning in the financial sector and taking action on climate change. I could be wrong but that guy in the White House is starting to look more and more like the guy he campaigned to be.