Rightwing Nutcase

This is the third of a six part series in which I'm going to try to assume various personas, some of which I understand, and some of which I don't, in order to write from that point of view.  Today I'll be playing the part of a conservative columnist writing a column for a rightwing publication.

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(Rush is Right)

The mindset of the American liberal never ceases to amaze me.  Even when presented overwhelming factual evidence that their emotion and intention based politics don't work, they'll still defend whatever came out of a prominent Democrat's mouth.  To do otherwise would be to give aid and comfort to the enemy - conservatives - and that might abrogate the moral high ground they claim as their birthright.

 

The Affordable Care Act is in shambles.  First of all, the Administration had over three and a half years to gear up for the roll out, yet they still managed to bungle it.  Are we really to believe that in a country that put together Google, Amazon, and Facebook, we couldn't cobble together a working website for over $100 million?  Due to the mandate that Chief Justice John Roberts let slide, everyone now has to be covered under some kind of insurance plan, yet how is it fair to charge Americans a penalty for not being signed up when the mechanism to do so doesn't work?

 

To date, just over 100,000 people have signed up for the insurance exchanges.  That might sound impressive except for three nasty facts:  first, the goal of the Administration for the end of the first month of enrollment was 700,000, so they're just a touch short; second, more people signed a petition for the White House to build the Death Star than signed up for the exchanges; third, there have been over 5 million policy cancellations since this fiasco opened up.

 

It's the last part I'll touch on next.  Those in favor of the ACA told us, "You can keep your insurance and your doctor if you like them," but that has turned out to be abjectly untrue.  That was part of the grandfathering clause in the bill, and it was a very clever ploy because it ignored that most insurance policies shift slightly from year to year, so the Administration could use that shift to say the policy changed and now is no good any more.

 

And this is only the tip of the iceberg.  Next is going to come the specter of the death spiral.  You see, the ACA is dependent on younger, healthier people signing up so that they can subsidize the older, sicker ones.  However, due to several factors - such as price increases, website difficulties, and being able to remain on their parents' insurance until they're 26 - most young people aren't signing up.  Therefore, in order to cover the rolls, the insurance companies will have to increase rates.  That will further discourage people to sign up, thus raising rates again.  And so on and so on and so on...

 

Some will crow about MediCare, but lots of doctors are no longer accepting MediCare, meaning that many have to search for someone who will, and that person is likely a lower quality physician.  There's already a doctor shortage in this country, and it's projected to get worse.  Let's face it, would you become a doctor if you couldn't make decent money to justify the years of schooling and loans you need to get certified?  We're going to end up with poor doctors and worse care.

 

Care is what this should be about, not coverage.  What good is paying for your medical bills if the care you get is substandard?  If your child dies of cancer, I doubt paying the bill is going to be high on your list.

 

There are many other factors too numerous to mention here(such as lack of incentive for drug companies to develop new drugs, long wait times to see a doctor, and "patient advisory boards" that are really just death panels), but it's safe to say this is an unmitigated disaster.  Conservatives aren't gloating about this - just pointing out that this is exactly what we said would happen.  The ACA proves that nothing in this world is more dangerous than someone who has good intentions and no idea what he or she is doing.