Author Topic: The ACA and AHCA  (Read 5913 times)

Offline scottws

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The ACA and AHCA
« on: Wednesday, March 15, 2017, 09:32:34 AM »
Obviously, the ACA and what to do about it, if anything, is a current hot topic and I know we have at least one resident that is probably keenly aware of any and all developments surrounding the ACA's repeal, modification, or replacement, currently called the "Affordable Health Care Act" or AHCA (or "Trumpcare" or "Don.T. Care" ;)), especially the individual mandate or lack thereof.

So I've done some reading about this topic quite a bit recently.  One big takeaway is that I finally learned the real reason why Republicans hate the ACA and why they've been railing against it for all these years.  It isn't just because of opposition to everything Obama did.  It isn't just because Republicans think the private sector is always a better service provider than the government sector.  Basically, in addition to the actual health-related aspects of the ACA, the law is partially crafted as a veiled form of wealth redistribution.  Obviously Republicans, the unabashed party of the wealthy, hate this.  It's like the fog has been lifted and I see perfectly clearly now.

Now consider the AHCA, Paul Ryan and Donald Trump's replacement.  It obviously has a lot of problems, but I'm not going to belabor that as the ACA certainly is no angel in that regard either.  I'm sure Cobra loves the aspect of the fact that it removes the individual mandate from the ACA if nothing else.  That said, the AHCA is also a veiled wealth redistribution tool; however, in its case it redistributes wealth from the poor to the wealthy.

I don't know what the answer is.  Health care is a complex issue and both the ACA and AHCA have serious problems.  That said, I think this is more evidence of exactly why you should never ever ever ever ever ever vote Republican unless you are wealthy.  Everything they do with regards to fiscal and economic policy - everything last thing! - is about increasing the wealth of people that are already incredibly wealthy.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: The ACA and AHCA
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday, March 15, 2017, 11:08:06 AM »
Have done some reading as well, it does seem completely screwed up. Whole thing is a nightmare at this point.

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Offline nickclone

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Re: The ACA and AHCA
« Reply #2 on: Wednesday, March 15, 2017, 05:08:27 PM »
I keep hearing that health care is complicated, but now I disagree with that. America's health care is complicated. I don't think any other first world nation has anything other than single payer health care. It really isn't that complicated, we (or the powers that be) just decided to make it so, all hail the mighty dollar.

Offline Cobra951

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Re: The ACA and AHCA
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday, March 15, 2017, 05:10:52 PM »
My overwhelming issue with the ACA is the mandate.  If you sell French wine, and the government suddenly mandates that everyone must buy a bottle of French wine every month, you will have no need to compete in the open market.  You can start raising the price steadily, until demand starts to taper off more rapidly than the price increase.  Even if you've had some stiff competition in the past, they will be reaping the same benefit you are: a captive market.  So they can all increase prices to artificially inflated levels.  Their customers have no choice but to buy the product, so every wine distributor makes a killing.

Compound that by restricting sales to certain wine distributors per region of the country, and you end up with the sweetest deal in the history of fermentation.   The wine doesn't even have to be good.  It just has to meet the two basic criteria: it must be wine and it must be French.  It can taste like piss, and still qualify as a compulsory buy to 350 million customers.

This is a horrible scenario for any product.  Insurance is not exempt.