Andrew Copa ’15
As the official start of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) on October 1st comes ever closer, many Americans and politicians are beginning to debate the complex issue of whether or not Obamacare is good for our nation. Just this week, the house passed a bill that would defund the Affordable Care Act with 230 votes for and 189 against. This number at first might not seem that shocking as the almost entirely antiObamacare Republicans have a large majority in the house. However, in this vote two democrats voted against Obamacare and 10 democrats abstained. This could possibly be a sign of the changing times. Democrats and President Obama need to face the facts. According to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 45% of Americans think Obamacare is a bad idea while only 31% believe it is a good idea. Furthermore, 45% of Americans believe Obamacare will have a negative impact on the American healthcare system while only 23% believe it will be beneficial. Another poll was collected by ABC News and the Washington Post and it showed very similar results. Of all the individuals polled, 52% opposed Health Care Reform. ABC has conducted 16 polls on the issue since August 2009 and not once has the Affordable Care Act received a majority of votes in its favor. Something even more interesting that came out of this ABC News/Washington Post poll was that 62% of Americans felt they lack the proper information to fully understand all the changes that will occur under Obamacare considering supporters like Nancy Pelosi who publicly said that “[w]e have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it” (washingtonpost.com). This statement should outrage any American as Nancy Pelosi is basically saying that it is okay to vote on something even though you have no idea what it contains while she and all other members of congress will not even be affected by the implementation of Obamacare.
Americans have many reasons to disagree with the Affordable Care Act. The largest issue Americans should have with the bill is the harm it causes to the already struggling issue of employment in this nation. According to investors.com, 301 employers have cited Obamacare as their reason for either laying people off or cutting workers’ hours. The reason for this is that Obamacare demands that all employers provide healthcare for full-time employees. This demand is something that some businesses simply cannot afford and it is far too intrusive of the government to become that involved. Recently, this has hit home with the Cleveland Clinic citing the Affordable Care Act as its reason for making $300 million in cuts and possible layoffs. In a time when individuals are already struggling to find jobs, President Obama’s plan seems to be causing further harm.
Another large issue with Obamacare is the inconsistency in President Obama’s claim that the cost of healthcare would go down. While originally President Obama stated that health care would go down by $2,500 per family, in actuality “the average 25 and 40-year-old will pay double under Obamacare what they would need to pay today, based on rates posted at eHealthInsurance.com” (Forbes.com). These statistics speak for themselves. In a time when Americans are struggling financially, President Obama’s health care reform simply does not make sense. Hopefully, Democrats can come to see this and Obamacare will be defunded before October 1st.
Sources:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-passes-gop-spending-plan-thatdefunds-obamacare/2013/09/20/4019117c-21fe-11e3-b73c-aab60bf735d0_story.html
http://news.investors.com/politics-obamacare/091813-669013-obamacare-employermandate-a-list-of-cuts-to-work-hours-jobs.htm
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/09/18/citing-obamacare-cleveland-clinic-tocut-300m-warns-of-layoffs
http://www.nationaljournal.com/domesticpolicy/obama-s-affordable-care-act-looking-abit-unaffordable-20130829
http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/06/03/democrats-new-argumentits-a-good-thing-that-obamacare-doubles-individual-health-insurance-premiums/?partner=yahootix
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/15/20506193-poll-obamacare-remainshighly-unpopular-as-implementation-looms?lite
http://www.langerresearch.com/uploads/1151a4HealthCare.pdf
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/pelosi-defends-her-infamoushealth-care-remark/2012/06/20/gJQAqch6qV_blog.html