The Supreme Court has had a couple of months to study the legal aspects of Obamacare and will soon render its opinions on the case. The verdict could be announced anytime between now and 28 June, the close of this session of the court. Summed up, there are three verdicts that could come down. First, the court could uphold all aspects of the act, leaving Americans to be attacked by the hugest power grab by the government in the history of the country. Second, the individual mandate portion of the act could be struck down, leaving the rest of the act intact. Lastly, the whole act could be ruled unconstitutional.
But, no matter what the outcome of the Supreme Court case, what comes next for Americans. The last poll I saw said that approximately 62% of Americans are somewhat or completely against Obamacare. That being said, I think that healthcare reform is necessary. I am completely against a widespread government takeover of a sixth of the country’s economy, however. There are several things that can be done to actually affect healthcare reform.
Since one of the supposed purposes of Obamacare was to make healthcare and insurance affordable (it is in the name, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), something should be done to that end. Anytime you have a single option available to you, you give up any affordability. Single-payer was always the end result desired by Obamacare. The administration wanted to do away with insurance companies. Instead, regulations need to be removed to allow for individuals and companies can go across state borders to find more affordable insurance.The more competition in the pricing of insurance policies available, the lower the prices will be to insure yourself or your family. That is capitalism and, contrary to the opinions of the administration, capitalism does work! If the insurance rates in the state in which I reside are higher than the one two states to the east, if people get there policies from that state, it won’t be long before my state takes notice that they are losing customers and those insurance companies start lowering their prices in an effort to regain their customers.
Something else, not ever touched in Obamacare, is tort reform. A major expense of healthcare is lawsuits for malpractice and the resulting malpractice insurance. I see commercials for law offices hunting former patients for massive class-action lawsuits everyday. I have nothing against a patient who has been wronged by a doctor or a hospital getting what they deserve. Heaven knows, I’ve heard of some very strong cases. However, there needs to be some changes made. In the long run, it will save everyone money, because, let’s face it, the expense of those cases just get passed on to us, doesn’t it?
Medicare, as well as the state-run Medicaid, are full of fraud. That shouldn’t come as any huge shock to you. If you were to look in any real news source, you’d see an article or two concerning someone defrauding one or both of them for huge amounts of money. I’ve seen estimates that showed billions of dollars lost to healthcare fraud. Do you need a motorized wheelchair, here’s how to get one at no cost to you. You’ve seen the advertisement. Guess what; you’re picking up the cost of that wheelchair. If you need a motorized wheelchair, fine. I’ve no problem with it. If you’re too lazy to walk ten feet, sorry, I really object to paying for your motorized wheelchair.
These are but a few examples of things that need looking into. There are plenty of others. The thing is,no matter what the verdict of the Supreme Court on Obamacare, Congress has work to do. If Obamacare is upheld, we need to get involved to let our congresspeople know we want the whole thing repealed! If the individual mandate is struck or the entire act is ruled unconstitutional, we need to require them to start over in a rational manner. We can’t just walk away and do nothing. We need to act for real healthcare reform.
marjarhead1 