Leave Obamacare Alone!

What is with those Troglodyte Republicans? They just voted to overturn President Obama's signature legislative success, the Affordable Health Care and Something-Or-Other Act. This is the one that gives free healthcare to 30,000,000 nice folks who just don't happen have any right at the moment. It also does a bunch of other stuff, because as you would expect you can tuck a lot into 2,700 pages without even half trying. But instead of just accepting their defeat like good little legislators – and it was a defeat, make no mistake, considering that not even one Republican voted for it – the House actually just voted 245 – 187 to simply overturn it. To make it like it never existed! How rude!

I mean, really! What's not to like about this fine legislation, which has come to be called Obamacare? Just because it takes $500 Billion Dollars from Medicare, that entitlement we all have paid into for our entire lives, and gives it to Obamacare, that entitlement that no one pays into at all, is that a reason, I ask, not to like it? The Democrats have told us that taking that $500 Billion from Medicare, which we all know is nearly broke, will make it stronger. I believe them, don't you?

And just because it enables you to keep your adult children on your health insurance policy until the age of 26, is that bad? Of course, some say that just gives them another reason to put off leaving home. And we know that several health insurance companies have already ceased writing health insurance policies for children as a result (profit mongers!), but we like it so it ought to be in there, right?

And it prevents those evil health insurance companies from being able to increase your premiums or refuse to insure you for pre-existing conditions. That makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, after all, so you contract brain cancer and Myasthenia Gravis and Multiple Sclerosis and gangrene. And dealing with all of that will cost a fortune, but we live in the "someone else pays" entitlement society, so why shouldn't someone else pay? Just because it would put insurance companies out of business, why should we care? They shouldn't be in business anyway. Health care is a right, isn't it? Let them all fail and then the Government will take care of health care. You know, like they take care of the IRS, the EPA, the EEOC and Amtrak and the Postal Service and the FDA. I mean, just because they can't find 20,000,000 illegals, they do a pretty good job of finding that one bovine out of millions with Mad Cow Disease.

And then there's the part about everybody you do more than $600 per year in business with will require you to issue them a Form 1099. That's supposed to raise another $19 Billion a year in revenue to help pay for all this wonderfulness. Oh, I know, they don't mention the billions of dollars and millions of hours it will take business to comply, but hey, they're businesses. Screw them. We don't care about businesses, do we?

Then there's the 159 boards and commissions which will necessarily be created with tens of thousands of bureaucrats to write all the regulations about who gets what care, and when. That should do a lot to lessen unemployment, right? And yea, I know, the legislation requires that another 16,000 IRS agents will have to be hired to run down all the scofflaws who simply refuse to follow the new rules. It'll be a fee, you see, for failure to comply. That's what Obama told us. Oh, wait a minute. Obama's Dept. of Justice is now arguing in the appeals courts it's a tax. Well, it's one or the other and those of us who won't have to pay don't really care, do we?

And the Chuckmeister doesn't want to hear from any of those Gun- and God-Loving right-wingers about trial lawyers fighting like Hell to keep tort reform out of Obamacare. After all, 99% of all their political contributions go to Democrats, and Democrats need the money to keep electing Obama and his minions, so let's leave it the way it is. "Loser pays" be damned. And yes, I know that England and France and Spain and Germany and Switzerland, etc., have all enacted "loser pays" tort reform, which has reduced the number of frivolous malpractice lawsuits by more than 80% in their countries, but like I said, the Dems need the money.

And one other thing. Yes, it's true that 729 American organizations as of this writing have petitioned to opt out of Obamacare, including the AARP and McDonalds and unions such as the SEIU. They really believe in it. Yes they do. After all, the SEIU gave Obama $60 Million they collected from the dues of minimum-wage immigrant workers who clean hotel rooms to get him elected so they really like this "progressive" legislation. They just need a little bit longer to read it. It's 2,700 pages, don't you know.

And what about Sarah Palin and her "death panels?" Of course, health care will have to be rationed, just like it is in England and Canada and Germany, and that rationing will necessarily mean that we won't get to see doctors when we need to see them and get the care we need when we need it, and it will no doubt result in premature deaths, and lots of them, but calling them "death panels" is just plain wrong! Maybe "Pre-Exipiration Consultations" would be a more politically correct term.

And giving 30 million people health insurance is nice, but what about the other 15 million who don't get it with this new legislation? I mean, like the illegals and those who would otherwise qualify but just can't sober up long enough or turn off Jerry Springer and get out of bed to go register for it? Maybe we can have some more laws next year to expand Obamacare to include these poor lost souls. After all, we don't pay for it, do we? It's free, right?

And then some right-wing knuckle-draggers want to dredge up the factoid that we might have a problem finding enough doctors and nurses to refer those 30 million new customers to. Without more docs and nurses there might not be anybody to see these newly-minted healthcare recipients, the evil Republicans chant. And it's woefully true, many more doctors are now refusing to see Medicaid/Cal patients because they get paid bupkus for their time. How much? Something on the order of one-third of Medicare reimbursements, which is roughly one-half of fee- for-service rates. Well, it's simple! Just make the existing doctors and nurses work harder and longer! After all, they're rich, right? And we let them keep their "Bush-era tax cuts for the rich," didn't we? So the very least they can do is work a few more hours a week, right? I mean, doctors in China and Russia and Cuba make just about the same as garbage collectors, and cutting these privileged folks down to size is a good idea! I mean, we're all equal, aren't we? Let's start acting like it!

And yes, I know that Obama guaranteed us that our health insurance rates would go down and that if we like our doctors we'd be able to keep them and if we liked our health insurance policy we'd be able to keep it. But hey, he's a politician, right? Politicians lie all the time, don't they? Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction, didn't he? Well, I just have to report that Medicare's independent economic expert, Chief Actuary Richard Foster, just testified before the House Budget Committee that, um, well, none of the above guarantees will be kept. At least that's better than lying about WMD's, right?

And let's finally dispose of the argument by all those nay-sayers about that analogy concerning health insurance and car insurance. Obama has told us repeatedly that we shouldn't complain about being forced to buy health insurance because people are forced to buy car insurance, and that makes it okay. Well, I have to admit it's true, the only people who have to buy car insurance are those who buy cars. No car, no car insurance necessary. And yes, I will admit that the only reason we buy car insurance is to protect those folks from the damage our car might do to them. So, it must be true that buying health insurance will help protect those folks from any damage our health might cause them. Sort of like, if I got drunk and tripped over somebody's leg in a bar and broke their foot, maybe my health insurance would pay for their medical bills. Maybe that's the way Obama and his czars should explain it. Yea, that's the ticket.

And while I'm on the subject, I don't want to hear any of this 14^th Amendment crap about being forced to buy something – anything - by virtue of simply being an American. I don't know about you, but I think this might be a really good deal, especially when it concerns products and services that the Government bailed out. Think of it this way. GM and Chrysler took TARP money. Ford didn't. Yet, the best-selling vehicle in America is once again the Ford F-150 pickup. Well folks, we have an investment in GM and Chrysler and I say if people don't buy their products, maybe we just simply outlaw Fords! Force everyone to buy a Government Motors car just like we now do with health insurance and Voila!, we get out money back. Don't thank me. It's why God put me here.

So, I don't know about you, but I'm all for leaving well enough alone. I have confidence in the leaders of the Democratic Party. I'm sure they wouldn't pass legislation and subsume one-sixth of our Country's economy if it wasn't good for us citizens, would they? Would they?