Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

Back to the Obama years in review.  The most important legislation during the Obama presidency is of course Obamacare.  I think Obama wanted to have a one payer system for health care but he knew it was impossible at this time.  So he promised to decrease the number of uninsured in the country by emulating Romney care.  As much the right wing hated Obamacare, it was not all that radical.  It was less socialistic than the plan put up by the Clintons.  It was not out to get rid of insurance companies.  That is why the insurance industry did not put up a fight against it.  Remember how they attacked Clinton's plan and made it fail?   So by proposing a plan that the insurance companies may actually make more money, Obama was able to get legislation through, barely.  I think he believed that having Obamacare in place, it will be a first step toward a national health system.  Eventually, Obama believed, that he will go down in history as the president who started the road to universal health care.

As expected Obamacare was under attack before the ink was dry on the bill.  It also got a rocky start as the internet site crashed for a prolonged period.  That is a big mistake on the Obama team especially given that they won elections with superior internet skills.  Obamacare is far from perfect.  But it was meant as a start.  I don't think health care is a right.  But if the majority of the country think it is, then the only way to achieve it is by having a one payer system.  I give Obama credit for starting down that road as he promised in his campaign.

So now that Trump is in office and promises to get rid of Obamacare, and with majority on both houses of Congress, it would seem that Obamacare will be gone.  The problem for the GOP is that they have no alternative.  Now the GOP is split between those who want to get rid of all subsidies and thus mean all those who got covered under Obamacare will now be uninsured, and those who want to tweet Obamacare but retain subsidies, keep no preexisting conditions, and no life time limits in coverage.  The House wants to get rid of all subsidies because Congressmen are usually in safe districts.  Governors and senators want to keep most of Obamacare because they are afraid lots of  people losing insurance in their states and thus vote them out. 

I think Obamacare will lose in the short run with some part of it destroyed.  It may even get repealed.  But I think eventually people will realize that the GOP alternative, whatever they come up with, is not better.  In fact you may turn back on the road for a while but eventually I think the country will go back on the road to universal care as Obama had envisioned.  The reality is that if you believe that people have the right to health care, then we will all have to pay.  Obamacare or anything else that will cover people who can't afford it will mean higher costs for everybody else.  It is either higher premium for those who are not sick or higher taxes for those who pay taxes.  There is no way around that. 

So I think history will be kind to Obama about his signature legislation.  It may take 30 years but eventually people will give Obama an A for his effort in health care.  The original implementation was a C as he could have come up with a better bill and getting the whole thing started better.