(no subject)
The Affordable Healthcare Act: Is this good or bad?
When President Barack Obama took office in January 2009 he promised change. Change is certainly what he has been giving us! To get himself elected, he used his appearance, with the help of the media, he worked against the previous administration, building upon unpopular opinion. He is an excellent politician, promising much, but delivering little worth having. Many Americans never bothered to look past the surface to his actual agenda, which I believe we are still learning today. One thing is clear: He has no love for America or it's people and we will feel the negative consequences of his leadership for long time.
The rising cost of healthcare was one issue on his campaign. Together with the Congressional leadership, they have created a massive mess that is impossible to understand or comprehend. It is comprised of several health-related provisions, including but not limited to Medicaid expansion, limitations for health insurers, the attempt to lower insurance premiums, and "support for medical research [1]". All of these provisions have the potential to cost large amounts of money, so to offset this cost there are a variety of new taxes, penalizing citizens who do not purchase health insurance under this new law. In effect, the federal government is compelling individuals to purchase a "product". This is so far outside the realm of the original intent of the Constitution it's difficult to express in this short paper. Let's just leave it at: it's just wrong. At present there are pending challenges within the courts questioning the constitutionality of this bill, as well as the beginnings of a grass-roots movement to repeal the bill. The bill needs to be repealed, but probably not soon enough . . .
Ultimately, this bill will lead to rationed care, euthanasia, lesser quality of care over all and a real split between those who can afford to buy good healthcare and those who cannot. Ultimately, I believe this will be unacceptable to the American people and changes will eventually be enacted. But when?
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act