By Jessica Pall, Online Editor
Americans are not happy with the healthcare law that Democrats in Congress passed in late March. According to the latest Rasmussen poll, 55 percent of likely U.S. voters want to repeal the healthcare law, while 46 percent strongly favor repeal. Support for repeal has varied from 53 percent to 63 percent since the law was passed.
The purpose for passing the new healthcare bill was so the uninsured could become insured. Although millions of Americans will now receive new coverage, one major consequence will be the major distribution of existing coverage: private health care plans will cease to exist under this new plan and many will be moved into government plans and federally regulated insurance “exchanges.” The healthcare plan will raise taxes to support the generous subsidies for health insurance, the expansion of Medicaid, and will create 17 new taxes from which all Americans will be affected.
Although President Obama promised that healthcare reform will not affect those who have coverage, many companies will find it cheaper to pay the fine to the government to not have healthcare rather than provide it to their employees. An Oct.18 Rasmussen poll showed that almost three-fourths of voters, 73 percent, believe it is at least somewhat likely that the new health care law will cause some companies to drop health insurance coverage for their employers and 47 percent say it is very likely. Thus, millions of employees who had good health care plans with their jobs will now have no insurance, which will force them to either buy one of the government plans or a more expensive, private plan.
The problem with this is that the government will be in control of healthcare and not the patients and the doctors. By subjecting healthcare to a government program rather than to the free market, what occurs is a lower quality of healthcare because of the lack of competitiveness that the free market generates. As a government program, the HHS Secretary will have enormous power over healthcare, including the power to define what it can and cannot include, and the power to regulate every part of the 2.4 trillion healthcare sector—doctors, hospitals, insures, and employers. There will be anew gap of bureaucracy between the patients and the doctors, who will be subjected to the increased government authority they will have to answer to. The new healthcare plan adds 159 programs, boards, commissions, and bureaucracies including two massive new entitlement programs (Health care premium subsidies available to families of four making as much as $88,000 a year and CLASS Act long-term-care program).
Our country is in a critical time of financial instability and the Heritage Foundation calculated according to HIS Global Insight’s Macroeconomic Model that by 2020 Obamacare will increase national debt by $23.1 billion per year, raising the total debt to $753 billion and increase the annual budget deficits of an average of $75 billion. Most Americans realize that this new healthcare plan will be expensive. A recent Rasmussen poll showed that 51 percent of Americans believe that the healthcare plan will increase federal deficit, a number that has ranged from53 percent to 63 percent since Marchand 53 percent believe the cost of health care will rise overall. Thus, change is in the air this fall as a Rasmussen poll also indicated that 50percent of Americans oppose that the congressmen who voted for the healthcare law should be re-elected and 62percent of voters think it would be better for the country if most congressional incumbents are defeated this Nov. As follows, those who are dissatisfied with the way our country is headed need to vote in the upcoming election, and not rely on their neighbor to facilitate change.
Steps are already being taken to give Americans back their freedom. A multi-state lawsuit against the federal health care is proceeding forward initiated by Florida’s Republican attorney general, Bill McCollum. Challengers include 21 states and the National Federation of Independent Business. Essentially the lawsuit being put to trial is deciding whether the mandate requiring all people to be insured or pay a penalty, is constitutional. Additionally, the suit appeal that the health care law is a violation of constitutional prohibition of direct tax, coercion and commandeering of the states as the Medicaid and healthcare insurance, and is an interference with the states’ sovereignty as employers and performance of government functions.
