Review: "Confusion And High Costs Still Hamper Obamacare Enrollment" – NPR
This story came from NPR's Fred Mogul.
As much as I love the President (and I do; I'm an unabashed Obama-loving Texan), putting the foxes in charge of the henhouse was an awful idea.
I partly blame myself. When the ACA was being built, I hadn't yet quit my job, and I was placidly working for my salary, grinding myself into a pulp, and wishing some governmental agency would swoop in, fix the "system" and allow me to see my patients with less drama.
As a result, I didn't bother to really delve into what the ACA would do. I just assumed that him getting insurance companies involved in building a system would someone just work itself out. Ah, if youth only knew.
Now that health insurance companies hold the key to the ACA, and the law now requires you to go through the key makers, you have no choice in your health care. You think you do, but unless you are super wealthy, you really don't. You're choosing from among the scraps the insurance companies allow you.
I appreciate that thus far in Texas, my license to practice medicine is still independent of me dealing with insurance companies in any form. But between the insurance companies that want your money and don't care about your health and the government that knows nothing about health care but wants to stay in power, there is no one to look out for your own best health interests.
Now, let's look at the headline for just a second. I would portend that "confusion" creates cash. After all, when you're confused and pissed (and threatened with a fine), you'll just pick something so that you don't have to deal with it anymore. And "high costs" yield high revenues, especially since insurance companies work hard to deny your claims. "Obamacare" is an underhanded, greedy, micro-aggressive term to breed dissention amongst Americans: all of whom think being healthy is actually a good idea.
P.S.Y.C.H. means the exact opposite of the headline. It's not confusing at all. You'll be able to pull up your state's price list and know what things cost. When you visit your provider, they will have a list of their costs, and you can make a decision as to what you want to do. High costs are mitigated through capitalistic competition, a nifty system of checks and balances, and public accountability.
The term "Obamacare" can lose its polarized sway over the minds of a generally intelligent populace, or you can continue to be confused, poor, and angry.