What exactly is "Obamacare"?

[David Jerome]

What does "Obamacare" entail? And what about Obamacare makes it controversial? What makes this different from other healthcare reforms?


And this is an honest question. So PLEASE...no "Obamacare is Jesus crying!!" or "the devil molesting our land!!!" or any other dumb rants/namecalling. Just give the facts. Good ol', honest-to-goodness facts.


Thanks.

 

[EdwinWillers]

Oy, do we have to go through this... yet again?

Government-run health care
Government control of 1/6th of our economy
Government mandate that citizens purchase it
Massive increases in IRS bureaucracy to "oversee" the mandate
2,500+ plus pages of regulation no one understands (not even Nancy "we must pass it to know what's in it" Pelosi)
Forces everyone to support/pay for abortions
Government-run committees who determine whether care is "cost-effective"
Government involvement in how we live our lives, what we eat, smoke, drink
Government tampering with (and eventual dissolution of) the best healthcare system in the world
Gargantuan increases in taxation to pay for it
Massive waste
Eventual decline to horrifically poor healthcare for all
..
..
..
(as if that weren't enough)

 

[conamer]

Oy, do we have to go through this... yet again?

Government-run health care
Government control of 1/6th of our economy
Government mandate that citizens purchase it
Massive increases in IRS bureaucracy to "oversee" the mandate
2,500+ plus pages of regulation no one understands (not even Nancy "we must pass it to know what's in it" Pelosi)
Forces everyone to support/pay for abortions
Government-run committees who determine whether care is "cost-effective"
Government involvement in how we live our lives, what we eat, smoke, drink
Government tampering with (and eventual dissolution of) the best healthcare system in the world
Gargantuan increases in taxation to pay for it
Massive waste
Eventual decline to horrifically poor healthcare for all
..
..
..
(as if that weren't enough)

Yeah, power and control freaks.

 

[Vylo]

Glad the to see the OP's request for no informationless rants lasted a whole 12 minutes.

 

[Vylo]

Government tampering with (and eventual dissolution of) the best healthcare system in the world

Millions uninsured, and many even with insurance can't afford care.

Yeah awesome.....

 

[Assuredcw]

Instead of the public option, it is private insurance with standardized profit and administrative cost controls. It needs to have negotiated prescription drug costs, too, but it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick! It guarantees coverage for pre-existing conditions by spreading the risk pool among healthy and not just sick people, which is what the insurance mandate is all about. You can't get all of those goodies without the mandate. Ask the insurance companies, and they'll tell you all about that. They just don't want their administrative costs and their profits pegged. Sorry - you don't get a captive market AND the opportunity to gouge.

If The Affordable Care Act fails its Constitutional test with the Supreme Court, fasten your setbelts because the public option is the remaining Constitutional option for fixing healthcare. But President Obama tried to compromise by allowing the private insurance companies an opportunity to have more control over this. He did try.

 

[EdwinWillers]

Glad the to see the OP's request for no informationless rants lasted a whole 12 minutes.

Facts is what he wanted, facts is what he got. And it didn't remotely take 12 minutes

 

[EdwinWillers]

One thing we *do* need to get away from is healthcare insurance through employers.

 

[conamer]

Millions uninsured, and many even with insurance can't afford care.

Yeah awesome.....

Millions more will be uninsured (like my family) than insured under Obama Care by design.

 

[Vylo]

What does "Obamacare" entail? And what about Obamacare makes it controversial? What makes this different from other healthcare reforms?


And this is an honest question. So PLEASE...no "Obamacare is Jesus crying!!" or "the devil molesting our land!!!" or any other dumb rants/namecalling. Just give the facts. Good ol', honest-to-goodness facts.


Thanks.

To get to answering your question a bit, the first thing to point out is the individual mandate, that would make it so nearly everyone would need to participate in health insurance. This is thought to be a valid move because participation in healthcare isn't an option anyway. Every single person needs healthcare during their lifetime, so it makes sense for everyone to pay into the insurance; they will all use it at some point.

If you want to know one of the reasons it is so controversial, you can read it here:

http://housedocs.house.gov/energycommerce/ppacacon.pdf

All 974 pages of it.

Conservatives dislike it because they feel it lets the government infringe too much into healthcare, liberals disdain it because something like single payer would have been a bill a 1/100 the size and cut costs further.

 

[conamer]

One thing we *do* need to get away from is healthcare insurance through employers.

Golly, like people saving for their own retirement independent from an employer and being able to afford their own health insurance independent from an employer or the gubmint, what a strange concept!

 

[Vylo]

One thing we *do* need to get away from is healthcare insurance through employers.

I've thought about that and what the logic is behind employer based healthcare.

I think one major issue is that if your employer is paying for your medical insurance, it gives them incentives to keep you healthy.

 

[David Jerome]

Oy, do we have to go through this... yet again?

Government-run health care
Government control of 1/6th of our economy
Government mandate that citizens purchase it
Massive increases in IRS bureaucracy to "oversee" the mandate
2,500+ plus pages of regulation no one understands (not even Nancy "we must pass it to know what's in it" Pelosi)
Forces everyone to support/pay for abortions
Government-run committees who determine whether care is "cost-effective"
Government involvement in how we live our lives, what we eat, smoke, drink
Government tampering with (and eventual dissolution of) the best healthcare system in the world
Gargantuan increases in taxation to pay for it
Massive waste
Eventual decline to horrifically poor healthcare for all
..
..
..
(as if that weren't enough)

1) If people are required to purchase it, how then would it result in "gargantuan increases in taxation to pay for it"?

2) What's wrong with government-run healthcare, when that's pretty much what medicaid is?

3) Since the government has to deal with things like rising obesity in children (and the fact that the U.S. is the most obese nation on earth), what's wrong with the government overseeing what we eat, smoke and drink, since all those things are killing or seriously making people sick?

 

[David Jerome]

Millions more will be uninsured (like my family) than insured under Obama Care by design.

Why?

 

[David Jerome]

To get to answering your question a bit, the first thing to point out is the individual mandate, that would make it so nearly everyone would need to participate in health insurance. This is thought to be a valid move because participation in healthcare isn't an option anyway. Every single person needs healthcare during their lifetime, so it makes sense for everyone to pay into the insurance; they will all use it at some point.

If you want to know one of the reasons it is so controversial, you can read it here:

http://housedocs.house.gov/energycommerce/ppacacon.pdf

All 974 pages of it.

Conservatives dislike it because they feel it lets the government infringe too much into healthcare, liberals disdain it because something like single payer would have been a bill a 1/100 the size and cut costs further.

Thanks, this is seriously useful info.

 

[Vylo]

1) If people are required to purchase it, how then would it result in "gargantuan increases in taxation to pay for it"?

Yeah, he's wrong on that. It won't increase taxes, seeing as it is funded through people/employers buying medical insurance.

2) What's wrong with government-run healthcare, when that's pretty much what medicaid is?

Because this isn't medicaid or medicare. If they just expanded those to encompass everyone, that would be single payer. It is far too efficient for us to do anything that logical .

3) Since the government has to deal with things like rising obesity in children (and the fact that the U.S. is the most obese nation on earth), what's wrong with the government overseeing what we eat, smoke and drink, since all those things are killing or seriously making people sick?

Direct government control restricts freedom, which is a major part of this country's foundation. It is generally better from a liberty standpoint to educate people on risks and have them pay for their mistakes then to outright prevent poor decisions.

 

[SharonL]

There will be millions of illegal aliens put on the insurance rolls also -

 

[Vylo]

There will be millions of illegal aliens put on the insurance rolls also -

How do you figure? It requires you to buy insurance. If illegals bought into it, it would eliminate the problem of illegals leeching off the healthcare system, as they would be paying for it.

 

[conamer]

Why?

Because of the minimum requirement.

 

[SharonL]

How do you figure? It requires you to buy insurance. If illegals bought into it, it would eliminate the problem of illegals leeching off the healthcare system, as they would be paying for it.

I'll have to go find it - That is suppose to be one of the reasons it will be so expensive. But let me find where I read that and I'll be back.