Give me Liberty or Give me Death Panels
People say I make strange choices, but they're not strange for me. My sickness is that I'm fascinated by human behavior, by what's underneath the surface, by the worlds inside people. - Johnny Depp
I made a comment about the community in a prior post. The responses to it were certainly well placed, appropriate and accurate. One thing that attracted me to this forum, besides Livejournal being structured better for discussion than any other site I’ve seen, is because of the global diversity of the participants. It’s true. We don’t seem to be getting posts about America because those that used to post have left for some reason or other. I don’t think it is because of Facebook, Google+ or any other social media because those sites tend to shun political discussion. Maybe it’s because American politics has become an international embarrassment. The President is getting sued over a law that the Republicans have tried to repeal over 40 time and have shut the government down over. It’s not as embarrassing as South Korea, although I think a good fist fight in the House or Senate could raise CSPAN’s ratings.
On to the post at hand. I have always considered myself to be a left leaning centrist and supporter of Obamacare. Nancy Pelosi once said that the Patient Protection and (A)ffordable (C)are (A)ct has to pass in order to see what’s in it. I now finally understand, after 4 years, what she meant. The structure eluded me at first, but I am finally starting to see what it’s all about.
Americans, for the first time, are actually thinking about their healthcare. Provided everyone gets insured, there is no longer a deathly fear of illness or injury because of the catastrophic financial impact upon the afflicted family. Also, with the advent of high deductibles, healthcare plans are no longer being treated trivially. In order for the healthcare plan to work, the afflicted has to participate and become invested in the cost of the healthcare. I believe this is contributing, more than anything, to the reduction in the increase of healthcare costs in this country.
I’m hoping that the ACA will become ingrained as a “too big to fail” part of our government structure much like Medicare or Social Security before the next President comes into office. If necessary, modifications and improvements can be made without tearing apart the one healthcare policy this country has seen since its inception. Considering Republicans have offered no viable alternative, I don’t see any other way forward.