Let’s
try to get this straight…again. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare, is primarily a health care
concept first proposed by the Conservative Heritage Foundation in 1993 to
counter, along with other Conservative initiatives, the health care plan
delivered to Congress by Bill and Hillary Clinton.
The
idea of Obamacare having its origins
in Conservative lore is repugnant to Republicans. Their challenges to that
history at best persuaded Politifact
to rate the Heritage connection as only half-true.
Politifact hung the “untrue” portion of that rating on fact that the
proposal did not have universal Republican support. Of course, no other
proposal did either.
I
disagree with Politifact. The argument that the ACA wasn’t a Republican plan
may have some legs, but to suggest that the origins were not Conservative is ridiculous.
Talk to Mitt Romney.
The
delivery of health care in the US is unique in the modern, developed world. To
my mind it was a natural result of how nations around the world recovered from
the devastation of World War II. The US was the only major participant in the
War to end it without homeland destruction.
Other
nations were forced to construct health plans that were centrally controlled in
order to serve dislocated and impoverished populations. The clearest example of
this was the universal health plan created by the United States for the
Japanese people in 1946. It was a plan US Conservatives today would label as
Socialist mania. The Japanese, on the other hand, have been quite satisfied
ever since.
The
US after the War was more concerned with economic growth and finding the people
to fuel that growth. People were making money and, frankly, health care wasn’t
that expensive. Employers, in order to attract and retain labor, began to offer
complete health care as a benefit of employment. Health care slowly became an industry, and,
like all industries, the measure of success was defined by profit.
Flash
ahead 60 years and we find (which should be to the surprise of no one) that
health care in the US cost multiples more than any other place on earth. Given the expense, access to health care has been reduced or eliminated for large
segments of the population. Yes Houston…we have a problem.
Conservatives
however have an additional problem. As
they support and represent those on the receiving end of the multi-trillion
dollar transfer of wealth (the health care “providers”) they needed to come up
with some kind of plan that would increase access, reduce cost and still
deliver satisfactory profits to the providers. By any standard, Obamacare does
just that…well, except for the “reduce cost” part.
You
see, Republicans and Conservatives generally have an almost religious zeal for
Capitalism and supply-side economics. They feel if you give people enough
choice the cost will find its naturally low level. They also tentatively
accepted the idea of forcing everyone into the pool, i.e. the individual
mandate. The problem, of course, is that
health care is a totally inelastic (service) commodity; the demand does not
drop no matter how high the price goes up. Further, the choice of provider is
generally not impacted by cost. You all know this. When my kid is sick I’m not
going to go shopping down to Wal-Mart to see if I can find a doctor on clearance.
The
Democrats knew this too, so they bet it all on including one additional factor
into their 2010 plan – the Public Option. This would have been essentially a “buy-in”
Medicare, and if enough people chose it, it would have allowed the Federal Government
to begin to have central control of pricing services, and likely force private
insurers to match those costs. However,
in order to be politically successful the Obama Administration caved in (thank
you Joe Lieberman), the Public Option was dropped, and the 1993 Conservative
Heritage Foundation plan morphed into law.
So
why don’t the Republicans and Conservatives want to keep Obamacare? Why did the Republican House vote to repeal
the law over 60 times? Why don’t they vote to repeal it now?
This
is what I believe: I believe the primary thing they want to repeal is the name. Republicans named it Obamacare because they wanted to use it as
a political wedge. Now they’re faced with eliminating a plan which is more
closely aligned with their moneyed constituency than anything else they could
devise. However, they can’t embrace it now. My God…it’s called Obamacare. They named it. They’ll never get rid of that
name unless it’s significantly revamped. Yes Houston…they have a problem.
Obamacare
was a step in the right direction. Access to health care was greatly improved
and financial devastation as a result of ill health was curbed. It was destined to fail in the critical area
of cost; however no more than what was occurring prior to its inception. It needed a back door to centralized control
of cost. Even if Conservatives can find a way to change the name or simply take
us back to the melee we came from in 2010 the problems will persist.
Until
the electorate begins to vote in their own best interest, and not unwittingly
support the big dollars that profit from the obese health care industry,
nothing is going to change. The dead rose that is Obamacare will smell just as bad
and likely worse, with whatever label they choose to use.
It
was American ingenuity that created the Japanese health care system and for me
I think Cherry Blossoms smell just fine.
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