Why do People Hate Obamacare?
Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 10:39 am
There is a lot of talk in the little bit of news I read about Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act. I do not understand what it is all about. How does it affect the common people negatively?
I will be vulnerable here and give a word about our own experience- In 2011 we left an ultra-conservative church where we had no form of insurance. We were part of a home church for a while, but basically were completely without the mutual support structure of the Conservative Anabaptists. My then-pregnant wife had a blood clot in her leg and we went to the emergency room. When they learned we have no insurance, the hospital sent us to a different office where they collected our information, including a copy of my last few 1040s. After several weeks, we received insurance cards in the mail and the ER visit was totally paid for. A few months later, our daughter fractured her leg. Again, we presented our card, and the ER visit was paid for.
When we moved to Minnesota, we were sent to the local office and our info was transferred from Ohio. We had several more ER visits, once with my twin sons for carbon monoxide poisoning, and another time when one of them got a serious gash on his head that required staples. Again, they asked for our card and everything was paid for. One son needed corrective surgery for a structural birth defect. Another son has a vision problem, and I have a severe hearing loss. Surgery, glasses, and hearing aids all were paid for.
My point is, any one of these things would have totally sunk us financially. Add all of them together and we would probably be homeless on the streets today if we had not been cared for by this program, whatever it is. I have no idea if this is Obamacare or what, but it seems to be functioning quite well at doing what it is supposed to, namely relieve the poor of unbearable medical costs.
For comparison, we recently had an ER visit for a slashed foot here in Mexico, where we are currently. We again have no insurance here. Our total cost for 7 stitches, local anesthesia, bandages, and a bottle of antibiotics came to $17.50 USD.
This suggests to me that US medical costs are grossly inflated, the government acknowledges this, and has decided that the poor should not need to shoulder this burden. Is this not what the Affordable Care Act is trying to do? How is this seen as a bad thing? What is the perceived threat?
I don't read a lot of news, and don't follow politics very closely. Could you explain the furor over Obamacare so an unwashed peasant like me can understand what it's about?
I will be vulnerable here and give a word about our own experience- In 2011 we left an ultra-conservative church where we had no form of insurance. We were part of a home church for a while, but basically were completely without the mutual support structure of the Conservative Anabaptists. My then-pregnant wife had a blood clot in her leg and we went to the emergency room. When they learned we have no insurance, the hospital sent us to a different office where they collected our information, including a copy of my last few 1040s. After several weeks, we received insurance cards in the mail and the ER visit was totally paid for. A few months later, our daughter fractured her leg. Again, we presented our card, and the ER visit was paid for.
When we moved to Minnesota, we were sent to the local office and our info was transferred from Ohio. We had several more ER visits, once with my twin sons for carbon monoxide poisoning, and another time when one of them got a serious gash on his head that required staples. Again, they asked for our card and everything was paid for. One son needed corrective surgery for a structural birth defect. Another son has a vision problem, and I have a severe hearing loss. Surgery, glasses, and hearing aids all were paid for.
My point is, any one of these things would have totally sunk us financially. Add all of them together and we would probably be homeless on the streets today if we had not been cared for by this program, whatever it is. I have no idea if this is Obamacare or what, but it seems to be functioning quite well at doing what it is supposed to, namely relieve the poor of unbearable medical costs.
For comparison, we recently had an ER visit for a slashed foot here in Mexico, where we are currently. We again have no insurance here. Our total cost for 7 stitches, local anesthesia, bandages, and a bottle of antibiotics came to $17.50 USD.
This suggests to me that US medical costs are grossly inflated, the government acknowledges this, and has decided that the poor should not need to shoulder this burden. Is this not what the Affordable Care Act is trying to do? How is this seen as a bad thing? What is the perceived threat?
I don't read a lot of news, and don't follow politics very closely. Could you explain the furor over Obamacare so an unwashed peasant like me can understand what it's about?