A Rant About Opposition To The Affordable Healthcare Act

Cross-posted at An Angry Dakota Democrat

Over the past 30 years, every politician that has run for the White House, had a platform for reforming healthcare so that all Americans get adequate healthcare. So when President Obama used his political capital of his first term to pass the Affordable Care Act, which could conceivably give health care protection to millions of Americans who did not or could not afford protection before, I thought it was a good idea. After all, I thought, who would balk at the idea of holding people personally responsible for obtaining health insurance so the costs of most medical procedures would not come back on the rest of the population who have insurance but continue to see rates rise. Boy was I wrong. There was stiff resistance from Day 1.


I heard all about Death Panels, senior assisted suicide, one world governments, limiting the size of families, and various other things related to the ACA. I am sure that I forgot other vile things, but that is not the point. The point is why is there such resistance to this?

I live in a red state politically and the community that I live in always has people complaining about how others are getting a free ride in terms of medical care because they don't have health insurance. And here I get confused. The majority of the public are complaining about freeloaders, but then get up in arms when a proposal from the President says that everybody will have to buy private health insurance. So, we have a President that gets his plan for private healthcare passed through congress, the law is upheld in the Supreme Court which is further right than the country as constitutional, and yet people are reviling in the prospect that the implementation of the law has been rocky at best. What the hell is going on here?

In the past, I have seen people have to go through bankruptcy because of medical bills. And I'm not talking just regular medical bills. I am talking at least bills in the tens of thousands of dollars. From children who had problems at birth to a young woman who had cancer. Those people had to go through bankruptcy because they were kicked off their health insurance policy by their companies, or they hit the limit of the insurance policy, or they did not have health insurance. So because the person obtained a disease that they have no control over, they need to pay for that the rest of their lives? Or we need to have that family lose everything and then live with the scorn and resentment of the public because they have to take public assistance because of healthcare costs? In fact, there is a gentleman that I know that will be going into bankruptcy because of the medical bills that became an issue when his child was born and there were complications. The insurance company got out of paying the bills because of a technicality based upon the health of the mother. He and his family were scraping by with those medical bills, but a disaster which destroyed his home has caused the family into bankruptcy.

And what about the community rallying behind the family and coming to their aid? It has fallen short. What about the churches? Um, they are more concerned with currying favor with politicians. Where is that spirit which conservatives say is out here in the Heart of America. The one that says that we will sacrifice to take care of our own. Where are the conservative radio hosts, the conservative TV hosts, the conservative public officials that say you know, we have the hurting out here and I am going to kickstart the taking care of our neighbors by starting a fund or donating to the families that are hurting? They are almost non-existent here in the heartland. We have lots of wanna-be Rush Limbaughs here. And they take their cue from Limbaugh's compassion towards giving to those that have fallen upon hard times. They give silently to select organizations, usually those that have the same political beliefs as they hold. And most of their contributions do not help the public in general. So much about that American spirit.

Tha ACA might not be perfect. Hell, I know that it isn't perfect. But I don't want to hear about how people are having their insurance rise because of the ACA. Take a look at the past 10 years and ask why the insurance rates rose then because the ACA wasn't in place. If you have a better plan out there to get insurance to every American, then by all means present it to the American people. But until then, make the ACA the best that it can be. Because the status quo of the past 30 years is not acceptable anymore. We understand that lifestyle choices aren't the reason that an individual gets cancer or other diseases that are now a part of our world. So why condemn someone to a sub-standard life just because they are not born into a situation that they are able to have health insurance. That is the status quo, and it cannot be the status quo anymore.

It has been said throughout history that a civilization is only as strong as it's weakest people are. Well, right now our civilization is at it's weakest point in history. The weak and powerless are scorned and ridiculed. The weak are being made scapegoats for everything that is wrong. Our political leaders favor curry to the strong and powerful and barely even paying lip service to the needs of the average Americans, let alone those that cannot give any money to the corrupt political system. This false patriotism about Big Government coming into the healthcare system and making it a socialistic system will come back and bite conservatives in the ass. The American healthcare system is socialistic, that is why we have Medicare and Social Security. America needs to look past the stupid argument about hitching up the boot straps and pulling yourself up to where you want to be. Because, that is not possible without the powerful helping you anymore. Since that is the case, anything that will help the weak and powerless become equals with the rich and powerful needs to be accepted and improved upon, just like the Affordable Care Act. Or a better plan if it is out there.