We all know that one Republican who, particularly after a few drinks, is all of the sudden an expert on the American health care system and will argue until he or she is blue in the face about how Obamacare will ruin the country. Well, the Congressional Budget Office recently released a report on the Affordable Care Act and the facts are in. It is now essentially impossible to keep the debate going without the stubborn right wing coming across as totally misinformed buffoons. Let’s be very clear about this before we move on though: the CBO said Obamacare “would reduce the number of hours worked by the equivalent of 2.5 million full-time workers by 2025.”
Republicans, immediately misinterpreting that report, said this proved 2.5 million Americans are going to lose their jobs because of Obamacare. Yet on the same day they made these claims, several media outlets revealed Republicans weren’t being truthful. In reality, Obamacare will allow 2.5 million people to work less if they choose to do so. This is because with the Affordable Care Act, health insurance is portable, so you don’t have to worry about losing your health care just because you decide you don’t like your job anymore. Before, it was a common thing for millions of Americans to be in a “job lock.” They suffered from “a reluctance to change jobs for fear of losing employer-sponsored health insurance.” This is what the CBO report was addressing: People with crappy jobs no longer have to work those crappy jobs if having healthcare was the only reason they were staying there in the first place. Well, they’re free to go now!
Does it surprise you that Republicans, once again, lied to the American people? In these last four years, it seems that all they want to do is convince everyone that Obamacare will destroy our country, our economy or send your grandma to a death panel. They might as well be telling us “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” because it’s a man in a hospital bed with health insurance for the first time.
The mainstream media loves to focus on people who have lost their (questionable) health insurance because of Obamacare. Of course, they tend to ignore crucial aspects of the stories. For the people who’ve been dropped by their health insurance policies, there is a need to clarify that those policies were not actually legitimate. When people in their fifties pay under $100 a month for health insurance, but there is a strict limit on what the policy will pay if there is an actual claim made by the carrier, then it’s called a “junk policy.” Just Google it. They’re not legal anymore because of the undermining way insurance companies screwed over naïve customers. Those very few people who lost their health insurance had “little more than discount cards that can leave unknowing consumers with huge medical debt.” I can’t imagine anyone who would appreciate that type of health care policy.
Look—the Affordable Care Act is nothing more than health insurance reform, which, if anything, was the old Republican platform for providing universal health care. Take a look at Mitt Romney’s health care reform in Massachusetts when he was governor there, and you’ll see how similar it is to the Affordable Care Act that President Obama signed into law. Yes, it’s important to note that a lot of liberals aren’t satisfied with the Affordable Care Act either, but only because they say it didn’t go far enough and establish a single -payer system, much like what is in place in Canada.
If Republicans continue to linger on this health care issue, it will backfire. Millions of people are now signing up for health insurance because, guess what, nobody can be denied for a pre-existing condition now! Many of us undergraduate Badgers will be able to stay under our parents’ health insurance plans until we are 26, which was not the case before Obamacare. There are also subsidies for small businesses and middle-to-low-income families to buy health insurance, too. Is the law perfect? Not necessarily. Is it a step in the right direction? Absolutely. Just ask anyone who didn’t have health care before but does now.
It’s as if the new Republican strategy is to make Americans so tremendously angry with Obamacare that they blame it for all of the nation’s lack of progress. But you’d have to live in an alternate reality if you believe a reform of our broken health care system—a reform that guarantees millions of Americans health insurance for the first time ever—is the reason for our country’s problems. It’s actually the Grand Old Party (I emphasize the world “old” here) and its lack of commitment to voters that is to blame for our nation’s lack of progress.
Don’t be fooled anymore by the unparalleled propaganda of the Republican Party and its obsession over the “problem” of health insurance reform. If you’re still concerned about Obamacare, yet not as concerned about the countless other unsolved issues such as immigration reform, firearm reform, increases on minimum wage and jobs bills (our bridges aren’t going to rebuild themselves, after all), then you may want to get your head checked. Luckily Obamacare covers that!
Do you agree with Tony that Republicans need to get over Obamacare? Do you think it’s time to back off from Obamacare and start to focus on other issue areas? Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
