Why Obamacare is a Failure

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http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/03/npr-says-obamacare-is-a-complete-failure.php

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Type: Discussion • Score: 31 • Views: 27,211 • Replies: 450

[+8] - Robert Gentel - 05/23/2016I was not a fan and remain not a fan, but I do want to point out that while it hasn't lowered premiums and was negotiated a bit too much to insurance companies desires it has helped some of the...
[+6] - RABEL222 - 10/06/2016I am not looking for sympathy with this post but want to get out some information about Obamacare. At the beginning of the year my wife broke her arm and had to have an operation to repair it....
[+6] - glitterbag - 03/22/2017You apparently know next to zilch about women's health. Your girlfriend won't bear any more children, and likely won't need a Pap smear (depending on what remained following surgery) but there are...
[+6] - glitterbag - 03/23/2017I have seldom talked to anyone with such a limited view on health care. We already have too high a count of infant mortality because of poor pre-natal care. Sadly, too many women still die in...
[+6] - farmerman - 03/24/2017trouble is, the GOP has NO idea what it wants in either. They are wedded to "repeal Obqmcare". I think they missed the entire boat by not saying "Obamacare has got some good things...
[+5] - snood - 05/24/2016[quote="maporsche"] Obamacare was always meant to be the foundation. There was no way single payer was going to be passed with Obamacare. No. Way. That is nothing to do with...
[+5] - DrewDad - 05/24/2016[quote="maxdancona"]2. Obamacare has failed to lower, or even stabilize, costs. The average cost of premiums to subscribers are rising. The average cost to the system are rising. ......
[+5] - parados - 10/27/2016If you are struggling to pay your premium then you would be eligible for a subsidy. Unless of course you live in one of those states where the GOP has decided they don't want you to get a subsidy....
[+5] - izzythepush - 11/04/2016We had UHC back in 1946. That's when you should have developed a backbone, but you still voted twice for Bush. There was something about his butt you couldn't help kissing. What was it?...
[+5] - jochambers1965 - 01/20/2017I cannot wait for pre-existing clauses to once again be legal like they were in the good ole days. Considering my deductible is at $6K, I look forward to paying around $400 for my annual...

@edgarblythe,

I was not a fan and remain not a fan, but I do want to point out that while it hasn't lowered premiums and was negotiated a bit too much to insurance companies desires it has helped some of the people who are in most need.

Unfortunately it is not the single-payer, public healthcare system that is needed (and that other countries get for the same costs we are already paying per capita on public healthcare programs) and is only contributing to inflating the costs of healthcare in America.

The problem with healthcare in America is too much private profit, where things cost 3-10x what it does in even other developed countries and just insuring more people exacerbates this problem (with the upside of covering additional people).

It's crazy that healthcare is a life-or-death money issue for so many in the richest country on earth and crazier still that this is not just due to lack of money (we absolutely can afford public healthcare) but a sizable portion of the population that is actually against the very idea.

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@Robert Gentel,

Democrats and republicans do not care about you or me. This was rammed down the peoples throat and is slanted towards the Insurance companies and an inefficient State/Fed exchange. Now the Republicans would argue for a system that again sides with insurance companies and make the false promise that buying across State Lines would lower costs.

Am I stupid enough to think a Health Insurance Company is Louisiana would sell a policy to someone living in New York and charge Louisiana premiums?

Unfortunately, I would agree that IF a national health care system is needed, a single payer system with controlled pricing is all that would work. Get rid of insurance companies, eliminate State oversight. Hospitals, MD's etc.. would have to realize they cost for services would go down and pharmaceuticals will have to accept the same.

I only give Obama credit for 1 thing, Obamacare does lay the foundation. Now we need intelligent Legislators to improve it.

Good luck with that !

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@Robert Gentel,

I agree. I also want single payer health care and think our health care should be lower in cost. The cost in labs alone of which I have to do a lot of, is staggering. When my husband retired I was able to get Wellcare, so most of the cost in not in my pocket, but it is someone's pocket and the cost of health care needs to come down. A bunch of someone's smarter than I surely am needs to figure it out and then perhaps single payer wouldn't be so out of reach.

I do however have a question. What would happen to all the insurance companies and their employees if we suddenly had single payer health care. Wouldn't that decimate the economy putting an awful lot of employees and those who own the businesses out of a job?

1 Reply

@woiyo,

Obamacare was always meant to be the foundation.

There was no way single payer was going to be passed with Obamacare. No. Way. That is nothing to do with corruption, it has to do with voters.

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Thanks for your input, people. Very good responses all around.

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@maporsche,

maporsche wrote:

Obamacare was always meant to be the foundation.

There was no way single payer was going to be passed with Obamacare. No. Way. That is nothing to do with corruption, it has to do with voters.

I think it also may have had a little to do with the Republicans vow they wouldn't cooperate with ANY initiative of Obama's - even if it was their own initiative the month before

1 Reply

@snood,

Yeah, of course that's why (although more Democrats than I would have liked voted against certain provisions too, but nothing like the Republican opposition).

Just for another side of this Obamacare failure slander edgar has posted, here's an article about how successful Obamacare has been. My guess is that the truth is in the middle, but given that more people are covered no matter the cost, I'm happy with the result.

It's a lot better plan than what Bernie would have been able to pass with his "all or nothing" approach.

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/06/11/has-the-affordable-care-act-proved-its-worth/obamacare-has-been-even-more-successful-than-expected

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@Robert Gentel,

Robert Gentel wrote:

Unfortunately it is not the single-payer, public healthcare system that is needed (and that other countries get for the same costs we are already paying per capita on public healthcare programs)

No, we pay less.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_per_capita

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The ones treating this thread as a slander on Obamacare I view as too politically biased to see the facts clearly and will ignore their posts.

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Just looking at that link and the 'stats' there. Does it appear to anyone else that this was a poll, not a study?

3 Replies

I don't think Obamacare is failure, but surely needs to be fine-tuned a bit.

In most health care facilites today, because of certain elements of Obamacare, patients are able to communicate with their MDs via e-mail and they are also able to review their lab results and tests very quickly via the internet and their own private account ( chart).

While the use of electronic medical records is beneficial in some ways to communication issues and even for patient information about his/her medical record, there is certainly room for improvement.

The team approach ( a directive brought forth by the Obama administration) is mandated by the Federal Gov to be used for patient care.

Is this a + or is this -? Time spent with the medical assistant ( 10-15 min) is time not spent with his/her doctor. Also the patient relates info to the medical assistant, who then communicates "WHAT THE PATIENT SAID",
back to the MD ( basically by what she/he thought the patient said). The physician then visits with the patient ( for the remaining 15 min of the appointment.

The physician relies on the results obtained by the medical assistant ( BP,Temp,chart review) and rarely checks them himself/herself. He/she assumes the medical assistant is correct in his/her measurements.

Use of the laptop by the MD during the medial visit is demeaning to the patient, who often feels he/she is communicating to a machine and not a live human.

I suggest that the physician leave the laptop in his/her office during the medical visit and instead take notes with pen and paper, while LOOKING at the patient. I also suggest that medical assistants be given fewer functions so that physicians may spend more time with their needy patients.

The last thing (result of Obamacare)that should be dropped ( changed) are the evaluations of physician work by charting the well-being and health of their patients ( These evaluations are linked to the payments received by the physician through the medicare program).

The Gov must realize that the physician can do only so much to improve the health of their patients. The patients must work with their providers and try to follow established guidlines whose purpose is to improve health and longevity.

Lastly, the Gov needs to let MDs do their work without perpetual interfence with new rules and guidelines.

1 Reply

@Miller,

You are missing the point Miller.

Obamacare is failing to lower (or even stabilize) the exorbitant cost of providing healthcare in the US. The costs are rising for both patients, and for health care providers. Clinics are closing meaning that people are having trouble accessing healthcare... giving people insurance coverage is meaningless if people don't have access to the healthcare system.

If Obamacare can't lower costs to patients and to society as a whole, then none of these other details matter.

0 Replies

@snood,

snood wrote:

Just looking at that link and the 'stats' there. Does it appear to anyone else that this was a poll, not a study?

It is, and the linked webpage cherry-picks a couple of statistics in order to bash Obamacare.

From the original paper:

Quote:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A new poll of adults across the U.S. and in seven states by National Public Radio, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health shows that despite major shifts in the American health care system over the past two years, most U.S. residents report that the health care they personally receive has remained about the same. In terms of health care costs, most adults in the U.S. view these as reasonable, but getting less affordable over time. Survey results also indicate that Americans are more positive about the health care they personally receive than about the functioning of their state’s overall health care system. Where most rate their own health care positively, far more Americans rate their state and the nation’s overall health care system as fair or poor than rate it as excellent.

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@DrewDad,

Quote:

It is, and the linked webpage cherry-picks a couple of statistics in order to bash Obamacare.

Huh. Seems strange coming from NPR.

1 Reply

@DrewDad,

DrewDad wrote:

Where most rate their own health care positively, far more Americans rate their state and the nation’s overall health care system as fair or poor than rate it as excellent.

This is the stuff that gets me. Almost everyone says that their own individual experience with healthcare is just fine now....but for some reason they have the perception that everyone else's care really sucks and thus that the nation's healthcare sucks.

It's the same problem with people who say that congress sucks and why there's an approval rating of 9% but when asked about their own congressmen, they say "he's not one of the bad ones".

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@snood,

snood wrote:

Quote:
It is, and the linked webpage cherry-picks a couple of statistics in order to bash Obamacare.

Huh. Seems strange coming from NPR.

The paper Edgar's webpage references is from NPR. The webpage itself is some blog.

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@snood,

look at the source

American Thinker by way of powerline.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/American_Thinker

Quote:

—The site in a nutshell[1]
American Thinker (affectionately nicknamed "American Stinker" by its fans) is an online wingnut publication that's more or less the poor man's WND or Newsmax. They've published articles by such conservative luminaries as Noel Sheppard (NewsBusters) and Pamela Geller and such climate experts as S. Fred Singer and Christopher Monckton, as well as an interview with (and hagiography of) white nationalist Jared Taylor.[2]

The magazine, of course, is chock-full of right-wing conspiracy theories, woo, and pseudoscience. On the conspiracy side, they promote birtherism, "creeping sharia," red-baiting, and still occasionally prattle on about Vince Foster. On the science side, they concentrate on creationism and global warming denialism.

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@DrewDad,

I believe that the following things are true.

1. Obamacare has significantly lowered the number of uninsured people (a good thing).

2. Obamacare has failed to lower, or even stabilize, costs. The average cost of premiums to subscribers are rising. The average cost to the system are rising.

3. Under Obamacare, smaller healthcare providers are failing. The distance people need to travel to access care is rising.

These facts are supported by the article in question (from NPR) and many other sources including health care experts I know personally. Obamacare has not solved the basic economic problems and is unsustainable.

Does anyone have any reliable sources to dispute these facts? Or is the fact that Obamacare is economically unsustainable and is failing not in question.

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@snood,

the original source document

http://www.npr.org/assets/img/2016/02/26/PatientPerspectives.pdf

quite a different read from the American Thinker/powerline take on it

1 Reply

Why Obamacare is a Failure

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