The Reality of Obamacare

So many people are arguing over whether Obamacare is legal and/or necessary. We at Louisville Politics of course have been arguing against Obamacare for obvious reasons. The overreaching of this President, and others before him no doubt, in the efforts to destroy the individual in America is yet one example.

But here is another.

From my personal experience this Act does not do anything to address real insurance reform or lower insurance costs. My own plan is one in which many would consider a “good” plan. It is also provided through my wife’s employer. As someone who pays attention to their Dr bills, on the rare occasion I actually go to one, many things have been noticed.

For starters since my Dr accepts my insurer, they agree to a lower office visit cost in their agreement with them. What does this mean?

When I visit the Dr’s office, generally no more than twice a year, the regular cost of the visit is $75 BUT the negotiated lower cost to my insurer is $35. Sounds like a great deal so far right?

It would seem so except I also am required to pay a co-pay of $30 for my visit leaving my health provider on the hook for a whopping $5.

You read that right. My insurer pays approximately $10 per year to my Dr while the employer pays thousands for their “coverage.”

The average cost for these benefits to my wife’s employer are roughly $5000 per year and the insurer pays out $10 and I pay out $60.

That’s a pretty sweet deal for the insurance provider isn’t it?

There also is a deductible of $250 per year, required by my insurer, that I must pay before they pay anything. Once that deductible is paid then the insurer picks up the balance from there.

Did I mention I see the Dr twice a year generally for a standard checkup? That my costs are generally $60 while my insurer pays $10? Still wonder how they pay themselves these incredible bonuses each year?

At 48 years old I would expect my healthcare costs to go up in the near future no doubt but I also believe I am reflective of the majority of us that get to my age. Simply put?

I have been fortunate enough to have health insurance paid for through my, or my wife’s, employer since I was 18 years old, but until recent years I never needed a Dr on a regular basis and as such I would not have been burdened with a healthcare tax by the Government.

This would leave me with more money to provide for myself. Today, in a fractured economy at best, we are now penalizing those like me at a “young” age and forcing them to pay for coverage they don’t necessarily need or can afford. That is the tragedy of Obamacare.

Throw in that Obamacare will increase taxes by a minimum of $500 Billion, or that Medicare will be cut by an additional $500 Billion to offset the costs, resulting in a zero sum game seemingly.

The reality is that even by conservative estimates, through the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the costs of Obamacare will exceed $1.7 Trillion in the next ten years. So where will the money come from?

From the largest tax increase in U.S. history we call Obamacare.

Who will pay for it? Generations yet to come.

That is the tragedy of this unneeded and unnecessary legislation.

More than 75% of employers surveyed state that this will keep them from hiring new employees. All at a time when we need jobs worse than we have since the Great Depression.

Factor in that there is zero reason for a private employer to offer or provide healthcare insurance for employees anymore we are left to ask what happens next?

What will happen if private employers eliminate healthcare coverage to their current employees? What once was considered a “benefit” now can be considered a hindrance to profits.

What if the youth of America in the workforce decide to opt out of healthcare coverage in favor of a higher wage? In today’s economy, if faced with a decision that will get you an extra $1 in wages for example versus accepting company supplied medical benefits you don’t feel you need, what will the decision be?

What if the employer decides that his healthcare costs are $5000 annually for the employee and decides to offer a bonus equal to half of that amount on a yearly basis? Your cost is roughly $695 a year in the tax for not having insurance, but your employer is offering you $2500 to opt out.

When faced with the reality of needing more and more to feed and house yourself what would you do?

Most I believe would opt for the higher wage, and why not? It’s simple math.

And those people will end up using government resources for medical at our expense which will raise exponentially the cost of Obamacare. These costs will certainly cost us trillions of dollars if employers decide to do this.

When faced with a penalty of paying a few hundred dollars a year for not having insurance, and receiving thousands in potential wages by opting out, how exactly is that reforming healthcare?

Who is left to pay for Medicare at that point? The states are. This of course adds yet another burden to the budgets of our states at a time they can’t afford more unfunded federal mandates.

Even if the feds decide to pay for the total cost of Medicaid to states where will the money come from? Higher taxes to the feds who now have the right to tax anything they want according to the SCOTUS decision today.

Including any behaviors they deem unacceptable.

And this is freedom?

While the Supreme Court ruled that the states cannot be penalized for not expanding Medicaid, the reality is that more and more states will be forced to do so by the citizens of that state who do not fully recognize the consequences of this Supreme Court decision.

What happens to those people who depend on Medicaid/medicare when the money runs dry?

Money is a limited resource regardless of how many trillions of dollars the Federal Reserve prints up. There has to be value behind it and we can’t print our way out of debt.

Didn’t we fight against an oppressive government before?

The American Revolution was the result of a series of social, political, and intellectual transformations in early American society and government, collectively referred to as the American Enlightenment. Americans rejected the oligarchies and aristocracies common in Europe at the time, championing instead the development of republicanism based on the enlightenment and understanding of liberalism. Among the significant results of the revolution was the creation of a democratically elected representative government responsible to the will of the people….

We have continued to see a power grab by the feds resulting in what can only be described as a hostile take over of our Constitution. President Obama has proven that he will use “executive orders” to circumvent states rights and individual rights accordingly.

There was not much doubt that Obama would declare an “emergency” and use an executive order to circumvent Congress and enact Obamacare if the SCOTUS had ruled against it. He has shown a willingness to circumvent Congress by using this during his term already.

There also can be no doubt that had Obama lost this fight the would use retaliatory tactics against those that opposed him. Ask Arizona how that works.

Was this the Hope and Change so many voted for?

The reality is that even if Romney is elected President he will use this same failed logic to end Obamacare, that is if he is to be believed with his public statements that he will repeal Obamacare.

It may be his only option, but that doesn’t make the use of the privilege any better than Obama’s.

It is time that Congress repeal the Act of 1933 that essentially gives every President the right to circumvent Congress authority.

More than at any other time in our brief history America is under attack. Not by a foreign enemy but a domestic one.

The enemy is not Obama alone, no it is indeed the collective elected leaders who continue to follow the failed logic that there can be no personal responsibility and that government will pay for it all.

We are the government folks. The government makes no money and provides no product.

What they do is take from us and give to others. What happens when they can’t take anymore from us? What happens when they can’t pay for everything anymore after people have gotten used to having others take care of them?

The failed logic of this mentality is beyond phenomenal.

The reality is that Obamacare has made our choices for us.

Is it time for the American Revolution part II?

Wake up America this is the pandora’s box that sets the future and it doesn’t look good……