54% of Americans are in favor of PPACA being overturned, but yet most Americans also seem to believe that Health Care in America is broken- and support various elements of the Act.
This week, most "unbiased" experts (is there really anyone left?) believe that at least some portions of PPACA will be overturned. The individual mandate, which requires everyone to purchase health insurance, will probably be stricken down, which in turn would cause it INEVITABLY to collapse under its own weight. Let's hope the Supreme Court has the guts to kill it all now, rather than opening up some lame, doomed attempt to prop it up somehow in other ways we will pretend we can afford (but whose numbers - like PPACA's own financing math by the way - will be largely artificial).
Regardless of the decision, and the aftermath, it's clear that Health Care in America needs reform. What a shame that the 2,500 page mess that is the PPACA is what we get as a "solution." In my opinion, Obama's legacy will be forever linked to this overreaching, overstepping, heavy-handed Frankenstein monster of compromise.
While health insurers have made mistakes, particularly in some of the overambitious "claims cost management" efforts which denied claims on technicalities, the problems are not that simple, and the villains are far more numerous. Limiting insurance company profits- and punishing brokers who perform a valuable, free service to consumers- to fix runaway health costs is similar to limiting profits at the corner gas station to correct the rising price of oil. It was a politically safe, and comparatively quick and simple, tactic to make it SEEM like something was being done. "Let's stick it to the insurance companies" since people (mistakenly) see them as the cause of the problem, since those are the only costs voters see, and feel. Too bad it is a meaningless gesture that misses the entire point of what is wrong with health care in the U.S.
Let us hope that, through the process, we have discovered something about what we really DO need. Let us hope that the discussions about why PPACA was bad brings us to real, surgical solutions which target what must truly be DONE to fix health care in America:
This week, most "unbiased" experts (is there really anyone left?) believe that at least some portions of PPACA will be overturned. The individual mandate, which requires everyone to purchase health insurance, will probably be stricken down, which in turn would cause it INEVITABLY to collapse under its own weight. Let's hope the Supreme Court has the guts to kill it all now, rather than opening up some lame, doomed attempt to prop it up somehow in other ways we will pretend we can afford (but whose numbers - like PPACA's own financing math by the way - will be largely artificial).
Regardless of the decision, and the aftermath, it's clear that Health Care in America needs reform. What a shame that the 2,500 page mess that is the PPACA is what we get as a "solution." In my opinion, Obama's legacy will be forever linked to this overreaching, overstepping, heavy-handed Frankenstein monster of compromise.
While health insurers have made mistakes, particularly in some of the overambitious "claims cost management" efforts which denied claims on technicalities, the problems are not that simple, and the villains are far more numerous. Limiting insurance company profits- and punishing brokers who perform a valuable, free service to consumers- to fix runaway health costs is similar to limiting profits at the corner gas station to correct the rising price of oil. It was a politically safe, and comparatively quick and simple, tactic to make it SEEM like something was being done. "Let's stick it to the insurance companies" since people (mistakenly) see them as the cause of the problem, since those are the only costs voters see, and feel. Too bad it is a meaningless gesture that misses the entire point of what is wrong with health care in the U.S.
Let us hope that, through the process, we have discovered something about what we really DO need. Let us hope that the discussions about why PPACA was bad brings us to real, surgical solutions which target what must truly be DONE to fix health care in America:
- Health care cost transparency- being able to "shop" for a medical procedure
- Health care quality- being able to shop for care, e.g. see doctor's/facility's history of outcomes for a certain procedure/care
- Tort reform- reducing frivolous damages which drive up the cost of care
- Wellness incentives- helping people do the right things for themselves
- Removing bad provider incentives- curb the provider-side incentives that are not in best interests of patients
- Childhood fitness programs- combat obesity in our children, promote wellness education
- What else? Let's hear it!
