Charles Krauthammer provided us all advice when he recommended that we should neglect what President Obama says and focus on what he does. The reality is that very little that Obama peddled to America when he was attempting to gain support for the Affordable Healthcare Act was true. What is going to happen to many People in America in the next months and years is what individuals should be focused on. We might want to consider some of the following, because it may affect us all, one way or the other.
As many as one-half of all American doctors may refuse to join the healthcare transactions. Without doctors, it will be a very hard to make the transactions work and guarantees long waits to see a doctor.
The White House and surrogates say a few individuals will lose their healthcare coverage. The estimate of a 5% cancellation rate would signify about 16 million individuals, or about one-half the number of the uninsured that was originally used to rationalize this problem. Each cancellation provides with it a tale and for some, a complete loss of insurance plan and lack of ability to get treatment. And perhaps as many as a third of the population could be affected once the employer mandates kick in.
The government gets to decide on the details of healthcare coverage each resident will be needed to buy. An older woman may be needed to buy pre-natal coverage; a younger man may be needed to buy coverage for geriatric care. The Affordable Care Act does not differentiate between the needs of the younger and the old, or the sex of the policy-holder, or the needs and wishes of the individual. It is an all-encompassing, like it program, because there is no leaving it.
In order for the program to work, younger, healthy individuals must buy the government required insurance policy. Since most adolescents have no medical problems and the penalty enforced is much less expensive than buying the actual policy, many will no doubt opt to pay the penalty. The fact that previous medical conditions cannot remove one from buying insurance plan makes the choice to pay the penalty and wait until the need for healthcare insurance coverage occurs, a no-brainer.