Letter to the Editor: Obamacare Made Simple

The Affordable Healthcare Act, otherwise known as “Obamacare” has been challenged since its conception, but why? It doesn’t take a degree in economics to realize that the healthcare insurance industry has been raking in huge profits off the back of their policy holders for decades. We’ve become accustom to terms like “Not a covered expense”, “Not medically necessary”, “denied due to pre-existing condition” and so on. It grew to the point the insurance carrier paid less than 20% of all submitted claims. The claims that were paid, were not covered 100% of the submitted expense, leaving an additional “Out of pocket” expense to pay for.

You may be asking who regulated this huge industry? The answer may surprise you. While boasting huge profits, and not answering just how they were being used, it was found that the healthcare insurance industry was regulating themselves! I’m sure you’re familiar with terms like “internal audit” and “self-regulating”. So exactly what did this all mean to you and me? As with most, we received our healthcare insurance through our employers. Our employers told us that we were insured, and not to worry. Again, as with most, we never took a close look at these healthcare policies to learn what was covered, and more importantly what wasn’t. That is until illness reared its ugly head. By then of course, it’s too late. Massive amounts of debt came pouring through the door. Savings, retirement, college tuition accounts, gone. Remember, the best way to keep people in line is to keep them uneducated, scared and in debt.

This had to change. Something had to be done. Let’s face it, it was all about the money. In this case, BIG money. When you have companies earning an 80 percent profit margin, you can bet that there are large forces protecting them. “Special Interests” or “Lobbyists” stood by their side to protect this interest. If the mere mention of change was made, it was quickly squashed. The “money machine” rolled on. Along came a new president, Bill Clinton. People loved this guy, along with his wife Hillary. With Bill in the White House, Hillary, being who she was, wanted more to do, other then just being the “First Lady”. Clinton, pressured by the issue of healthcare reform, gave the issue over to Hillary. She in turn started beating the drum of reform quite loudly, and to the surprise of many in power, people started responding. A movement had begun. This went on for many months, then all of a sudden, silence. Big money had gotten through once again, and all this “reform” stuff was not heard from again. Everything returned to “normal” and the huge profits kept rolling in. That is until…..

Another new president was elected to office. One that no one saw coming along the conventional ranks. Terrorism was at a new high and people were scared. He had one of those radical names, and we knew nothing about him. However this guy seemed all about “reform and change”, and people bought into it, electing him to office.

However, at that time, the country was in real trouble. There were so many issues heaped upon the Oval Office desk, you could barely tell who would even want the job. You had to be nuts to want to take on so many issues. Complicate this by the fact that now you have a Democrat in the White House, with a Republican senate. Just how is anything supposed to get done? The relationship between the two seemed barely tolerable. But this president seemed determine to get something done. But what? There were so many large issues facing our nation, Immigration, Entitlement programs, National Debt, Military Spending, etc. He chose one of the least popular, Healthcare Reform. He put his team to work, and together they came up with a “start”. Keep that word “start” in mind, as he himself stated that this was by no means a solution, but you have to start somewhere. The plan was formulated, drawn and presented. Admittedly this was pushed through, signed and became the law of the land. This was like hitting a huge wasp nest with a stick. Change had come to one of the nations largest money machines, and big money was not happy about it. The issue was challenged in every way possible, up to and including being presented to the Supreme Court. This seemed to enrage big money, and up to and including this date has been challenged numerous times, all without any success. It seemed big money had a very large and bitter pill to swallow. In Congress, there is talk of little else, and nothing seems to be getting done. Important issues facing our nation have been swept off the table, as it seems this president can’t be bought, coerced or manipulated by the lobbyists. The Affordable Healthcare Act is the law of the land, giving all Americans the right to affordable healthcare.

Some fear the expense of having to carry healthcare insurance. Keep in mind that the root basis is to have the stronger and younger population defray the higher costs of the older and weaker. With factors built in that allowed insurance companies to deny claim erased, competition now can enter driving overall costs down. All the negative noise you hear is the big money machine trying its best to instill fear into you. But it’s also the noise of the machine starting to break down. Change often instills fear. Fear not, now you have CHOICE.

Bob Rabey
Mineola resident