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It Just Doesn’t Pass the “Smell Test” Viewed 67,716 times
By: Lee EvertonPublished for Logan, Utah (Area-Info.net Jul. 07, 2012)
Generally, I remain quiet on matters of national concern unless I am talking with some of my close friends. However, there is a time for everyone to come out and be counted. Now is the time with the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, or Romneycare, whichever you wish to call it.
I will offer right up front that I believe that something needs to be done with healthcare, just not this. Why? I will give you the same answer I gave my wife, it just doesn’t feel right. Sometimes, you can’t place what is wrong with something, there is just a “feeling” or “it doesn’t smell right.” The Affordable Care Act is one of those “things.”
For starters, it really isn’t “affordable.” If you are forced to have something, the price automatically goes up. In the case of a natural disaster, this might be called predatory pricing. With healthcare, this might be called life and death pricing. Whether this is a tax, or a fee, or a cost of doing business, it doesn’t matter, we are forced to buy healthcare insurance and the price goes up.
Does this make the insurance companies give a “big shucks” and say we need to reduce the rates because everyone needs to buy health insurance? Not in any country I am familiar with. It gives the insurance companies an opportunity to figure out reasons and ways to increase their rates in order to “fiscally” insure everyone they will be required to insure. Personally, insurance for me and my wife, the rates have skyrocketed. We are both healthy and use medical services very little, if at all.
The question I will throw in here is this, “Where is personal responsibility?”
If this is a tax for healthcare, then shouldn’t everyone pay this tax, regardless of who they are? Then, would there be a need for any private insurance companies to provide health insurance? No person should be excluded from this tax.
If we already have programs in place to help people (ie. Medicare and Medicaid), why do we need something else? Medicare is there for the elderly and disabled. While Medicaid is available to people who have low income. Wouldn’t it be more fiscally sound to utilize and improve these two programs to assist those who are uninsurable, or out of work? Why reinvent the wheel?
This conversation could go on for pages and pages (maybe 1,500 pages), but we can save more for later. However, I will leave with a few questions:
Isn’t this healthcare reform an astronomically expensive band-aid for healthcare? We know that this will not fix anything and in the short term all it does it make people feel good having a flimsy and short-lived safety net.
Why do hospitals charge $90 for an aspirin, or ibuprofen? I can buy the most expensive bottle of ibuprofen in the store for $8 which has at least 100 pills. Even at the pharmacy for the high-strength, I can buy a bottle of 60 pills for about $40. Doing the math, the hospital is either getting ripped off by its supplier, or the hospital just made $5,360 on those 60 pills! Perhaps, there are other avenues to look at to make healthcare affordable.
I believe it was the Joker who said it best and it fits the healthcare situation and could help US get changes made, changes to healthcare, changes to programs, changes that would be better for the country … “this town needs an enema!”
As I said, I don’t believe that the Affordable Care Act passes the “smell test.” Something does need to be done, just not this.
If you have opinions you would like to share, please do. This is an opportunity for anyone to have a voice and be heard.
Lee Everton enjoys writing occasional articles and observing all aspects of life. Lee believes: "Life is an adventure. Live it." In the past, Lee published Everton's Genealogical Helper and was the inspiration behind the original Everton.com website. Become a friend on facebook. Follow on Google + Lee Everton(TIP: Share your opinion, or news from your point of view: Go to Your View)
