Obamacare will continue to gain attention for the foreseeable future, but today’s news give two opposing and irreconcilable views. Mr Obama was asked if American’s were wrong about his health care bill (since so many oppose it). His answer? Yes, they are wrong.
Yes, they are…….The problem we have is that over the last four years billions of dollars have been spent misinforming people about what this law is about. All of the horror stories that were talked about have not come true. It is going to be a good deal and we expect that once it is fully implemented — a year from now, two years from now, five years from now — people will look back and, they’ll be asking what was the argument about. Why is everybody fighting this so much?
On the other side, we see Walgreen making major changes to its own workers health care, McDonald’s franchises begging for relief, and unions demanding repeal. Even Mr. Buffet says it should be canned.*
Why is that so many former Obamacare advocates are heading for the hills? Part of the answer is it is now time to pay the piper. As the ACA comes online, real world businesses don’t get to spin a press release. They live in the real world of having fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders and moral responsibilities to their workers. They have to react to the law as it is, not as policymakers might wish or hope it to be. One vision is grounded in reality, one is seemingly grounded solely by:
Yet Mr. Obama insists the majority of Americans are wrong, and he’ll be vindicated in the end. I’m reminded of the oft repeated phrase, “hope for the best, plan (or prepare) for the worst.”
Given the increasingly partisan battles that are upcoming, please remember to pray for all of our leaders–that God may give them wisdom and humility, and most of all, that God would give them insight into His will.
* At least some of Mr. Buffett’s quotes are from 2010, but he has more recent quotes also saying Obamacare is a drag on the economy.
Bereans @ The Gate - old 
Jonny Shumaker
September 19, 2013
It seems to me that Mr. Obama and those who are behind Obamacare are going to be hit hard with backlash when it is fully implemented. If there is one good thing that might come out of it, it is that we might get more voters supporting people who would stand for something better. But it is like Mr. Huckabee said this Tuesday, Obamacare is completely owned by those who made it, and they are the one who will receive the criticism.
David Bancroft
September 19, 2013
I totally agree that people are now starting to see how much Obamacare is going to cost and are now abandoning it. Obamacare will not only cost a fortune, but I believe the service will be much slower. Canada has centralized health care somewhat similar to what Obama wants to implement. The problem is, however, that the service of patients in Canada is extremely slow. For example, my roommate is Canadian and it is possible that he is going to need Tommy John surgery soon. He explored how long it would take to get this done in Canada and he found that he would not be able to get the surgery done for at least 3-4 months. Our health care is superior for a reason and if we try to make it like that of other nations the quality will suffer.
David Hartung
September 20, 2013
Rather than two distinct groundings for our different reasoning (reality versus Hope & Change), I think it is a value distinction. President Obama places a great value on the few that may be in some way helped by the ACA (the very poor) and on the message it sends (a movement towards central planning). He values these “advances” more than he dreads all the fiscal consequences. He hopes that in future decades citizens will have a value system like unto his own. Indeed, if all our value systems changed that substantially, we would agree with him. He just doesn’t agree with the fiscally-minded, supply-side economics. To paraphrase Margaret Thatcher, mocking one of her detractors, he would prefer the poor to be poorer to make the rich less rich.
Irene Blocksom
September 21, 2013
Centralized healthcare has worked well for nations such as Japan; 8 to 11% of their GDP is spent on health care and they enjoy superior service and universal coverage. However, with the rapidly increasing population of the elderly, it is becoming increasingly unsustainable. With the newly implemented Obamacare in the US, health care spending is expected to reach nearly 20% of America’s GDP within the next 10 years, which is implausible to say in the least.
Stephen Crawley
September 23, 2013
I’m afraid there are too many differences to compare systems like centralized health care in America with those in other countries like Japan. The way Japan’s culture is, there are many things that may work very well there but would completely fail in America (such as having people wait calmly in neat lines that stretch for miles to get vital supplies after they are hit with a natural disaster.
This fallacy can also be seen in the gun debate; those in favor of gun restriction point to other nations (Australia, if my memory serves correctly) and describe how those countries have higher gun control than the U.S. as well as a lower crime rate (again, Japan; firearms are banned from regular citizens, yet their crime rate is lower than in the U.S.). These facts do not mean that in the U.S. specifically, crime will go down if guns are restricted.
Courtnie Spain
September 22, 2013
When we say “Hope for the best, but plan for the worst” yes we need to plan for the worst but we also need to remember to hope for the best. Obamacare could turn out to be the best thing for this country. We don’t know what is going to happen to the plan in a couple of years so we need to remember to hope for the best and not have such negativity all the time.
Stephen Crawley
September 23, 2013
As the figurehead of America, Obama is failing miserably to listen to the constituents he supposedly represents. He is stubbornly forcing us down a path we don’t want to go, and is ignoring our cries.
Unfortunately, he will never change his mind unless we actually enact Obamacare to the fullest and it still flops. Yet he still might insist (as the democrats did with the stimulus and the negative trends in the economy after that) that the problem was not Obamacare itself and that we need even more centralized medicine!
Whether or not the lesson is actually learned, it will indeed be a very costly lesson.
Daniel Mervine
September 23, 2013
“The problem with socialism, is eventually you run out of other people’s money.” Obamacare simple can’t work. However, the president insists it will work, so if it doesn’t, its Bush’s fault ;).
Mitchell J Adams
September 23, 2013
Of course Pres. Obama believes he’s right. I do not. Most the people I know do not. Warren Buffett is not perfect either. But when it comes to economics and all that entails he should be listened to more than Pres. Obama. One reason I believe this is something my dad told me recently. He was listening to a CD on how a Christian should handle their money. This CD was not in any way made or supported by Warren Buffett. During this CD though it was told that Warren Buffett does many of the same investments. Because of the way he invest and the knowledge he possesses he is able to donate between 65 and 85% of his gains. This is a little off the subject but I feel if someone like Warren Buffett can do this we should listen to him and not present Obama on the subject.
Caleb Strejc
September 24, 2013
I think it is sad how President Obama can still sound so confident in his plan and can boldly state that the criticizers are wrong when clearly things aren’t going well already with large companies wanting the plan to be changed or fixed. Also, when he said that billions of dollars are being spent to misinform people about what this law is I find that ridiculous because the people can see for themselves what this law is and what it will do without other sources “misinforming” them.
Connie
November 14, 2013
I had no issues deniemrnitg clarity of purpose and thoughts in my comprehension of your writing. You are very clear. What is equally as clear is the absolute mission this administration has undertaken. Let me be clear here: neither governance nor statesmanship. Statesmanship in this country died many deaths years ago, all of us huddled around the work of generations past like selfish relatives squabbling over a last will and testament of a just dead relative. This mission that came into Washington in January is well beyond what we expected and quite corroborates his empty campaign. Obama and his people know precisely-with malice aforethought what they are doing and I am confident more is planned. This is governance quite by definition a silent leftist, radical coup complete with activisms and psychological warfare to force their desired outcomes. This is very quickly becoming sedition and treason.The amount of tyrannical communistic and leftist change rammed at us is done so very overtly, with undertones of covert intent that they seem to have taken for granted that the silent majority has been tracking all along. After 32 years selfless service-and I underscore selfless, because my first love beyond the God of our Forefathers is my beloved country which is undergoing a total full frontal attack yet again a very much kidnapping and rape in-progress.Before any of my readers conveniently conclude without reading and comprehending my intent here that I am some right wing radical that worships Hitler, let me stop you right here. Nothing of the kind has ever been the thought process and I am equally as against the far right as I am what is deliberately assaulting our nation yet again. I say again because the very wealthy leftists have been at it since at least the 1960s, and the decline of the quality of life in this country is profound proof of the attempt to weaken and cause chaos from within. However, I do understand the extreme right’s spark of generation from the impoverished, downtrodden and neglected white poor in the rural remote areas of this country who get nothing, nothing. The affluent and leftist bastards whose desire to see this country neutralized are all living in their alabaster cities of their own making.These once large areas of progress and strength of America’s growth now turned third world cesspools of unprecedented crime, debauchery; uncounted divorces, massive druge use that has caused Mexico to come to its knees, neglected children and swelling street gang ranks, rationalization and projection of personal accountability that guarantees no end of this malaise, no cure because someone else caused all this, pure psychological addiction to blaming someone else. Dysfunctional children, the absolute audacity of this; little children who are neglected as they are emboldened with resentment, who have more and more babies and are all on the public dole. These alleged cultured progressives and leftists have with their university brainwashed degrees and self-appointed sophistication have turned the ghettos of people of color into third world pogroms of gangs and bloodletting where a decent family who attends church and raises their kids decently is smothered and never rescued by these social arsonists with a personal agenda to destroy this country and cause as much racial divide and chaos as possible.You are beginning to see this nation rise, and not in a way these leftists expected. Those police officers in Cambridge stood with their white sergeant. That is just the beginning. I have many professional colleagues who are not white, who do not share one difference of opinion with what I have just written or their white brothers and sisters. Courage comes in the most unlikely forms of a band of brothers and sisters that this nation will see and feel and hear and know. These people will NOT take this country and they will sorely regret it. During the 1700s something formed and fomented that caused men to pray to that God you doubt exists-all night long. In the morning they signed the Declaration of Independence, and ran for their lives. These wealthy professionals had everything to lose and nothing to gain. What a striking contrast to these ultra-rich leftist cowards of the last 50 years.The time has come to return to our genesis and honor these men with our lives, our fortunes and most preciously, our sacred honor.
James Cohrs
September 25, 2013
I agree with you Caleb, I don’t think people are realizing that Obamacare might not be such a good idea because they have seen some great advertisement campaign about it. We are all just simply beginning to learn the facts. Also, I wonder if Obama really still remains so confident in his plan or if he also sees the problems but cannot react against them without ruining much of his political legacy.
Anonymous
September 25, 2013
I would have to agree with Mitchell’s post above, I do trust Warren Buffet.
http://www.factcheck.org/2013/09/warren-buffett-on-obamacare/
While I disagree with his statement that Obamacare does nothing to reduce healthcare costs, he is right it’s better than the alternative.
Here’s a nice link with some corrections for common believes about Obamacare. This factcheck site is pretty good, I’ve been reading them for a while and they seem to be very bi partisan, they go after both sides equally.
http://www.factcheck.org/2013/09/obamacare-myths/
So let me ask this simple question for anyone to answer, what is the big problem with Obamacare? Is it forcing everyone to have insurance? That shifts the burden off of taxpayers and patients with insurance onto where it belongs. Is it reducing payments to hospitals and providers if their quality isn’t up to par? Is it reducing reimbursements based on overly high costs?
Change is coming, right now healthcare is preparing for that change, and that means cutting back because hospitals across the nation can see they’re going to be losing money. There are some pains along the way, but there also seems to be a lot of good.
I’m of course not saying the law is perfect. The more I hear, the more I think the Employer mandate is pretty stupid, employers that provided insurance should keep doing that, if they don’t there’s a good reason for that.
Jeff Haymond
September 25, 2013
So what is the “big” problem? Great question, and obviously it is a subjective answer, i.e., individuals will have different perceptions of the problem. So I can answer for me–let’s just do the top three in priority order (again for me).
1. With Mr. Roberts agreement, Obamacare sets the precedent that NOTHING that the government wants you to do can be prohibited, as long as the punishment is via the tax system. Do we really want a world where a heavily partisan bill can be forced on us with a simple majority, if the punishment is via the tax system? I’m sure you can think of many issues besides health care where this would cause you great concern.
2. Obamacare, like every other government benefit program, is a scheme to take from some to give to others. So there are lots of people who will be in favor of Obamacare; they are going to benefit. But there will be lots of losers. I believe forcibly taking from one group to give to another group is immoral and unbiblical–hence I am against it.
3. Obamacare discourages employment; the most disadvantaged will suffer the most. Almost analogous to minimum wage. This is what headline after headline are now telling us.
We could go on and on about other concerns (death panels, government rationing, price controls leading to shortages/surpluses, etc). But my top three are above.
Anonymous
September 26, 2013
Jeff thanks for the response! The government still has to follow the constitution, the ruling on the individual mandate didn’t change anything, before they offered tax deductions for doing what they want, in this case they offered a tax increase if you don’t, this is no different then raising taxes across the board and then offering a tax deduction for those with insurance.
Ah, I think #2 gets to the heart of the issue, it comes down to a fundamental disagreement about the purpose of Government, I believe that any time taxes are taken it is forcibly taking money from some and give to others, not just welfare programs, I pay taxes to fund the local public schools, I don’t have any children in those schools, therefore money is being taken from me to give to parents. Because I can see any taxation in terms of taking from one to give to another, I do believe it is both moral and Biblical, Jesus commands us to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. That being said, most welfare like programs would be worthless if the church took care of the poor, there wouldn’t be a question of if they have shelter or food.
#3 I agree with, let’s get rid of the employer mandate!!
Due to your last paragraph mentioning death panels and government rationing I don’t think you read the article I posted. I am placing the link below here.
http://www.factcheck.org/2013/09/obamacare-myths/
Jeff Haymond
September 26, 2013
The other things I mentioned were not necessarily my concerns (but have been raised by others); nevertheless I don’t need to look at any site to verify that when there is government direction of health care, there will be rationing and there will be “death panels”. This is a simple result of scarcity; scarce economic goods must be rationed. If not rationed via the market by prices, there is another rationing mechanism necessary. In this case political processes will determine the rationing that occurs. So while it is pejorative to call them “death panels,” in the end we will take the current death panels (insurance companies, doctors and families) and replace with government death panels. There is a mechanism to ration under any system that allocates scarce goods. Of course, many will be glad to have government decide through political processes rather than the profit seeking insurance companies. But that shows little understanding of the political economy; those insurance companies will master the political process much more effectively than joe-six pack.
Hannah J.
September 26, 2013
I think its interesting that even as students, we are seeing the effects of ObamaCare. This summer, I was working full time as an Intern at the University of Pennsylvania. There was a great deal of confusion around mid-summer about whether we would have to cut back to part-time work because ObamaCare requires full time employees be offered some type of health care benefits through the company. Fortunately, the laws weren’t fully in effect yet, so I was not required to work “less”. However, it is a valid concern that students may no longer be able to find full-time low-paying jobs that help so much in funding school if companies are required to give benefits and health care options to any full-time employees.
Anonymous
September 26, 2013
Obamacare, in theory, seems like a great idea to me. The idea of reducing the cost of healthcare for many poor people, even though many very healthy people will be forced to have insurance or pay a fee. Obama, however, shouldn’t be so adamant in his claim that people will completely forget why they complained in the first place. It’s still a mystery. As for employers being mandated to grant healthcare privileges for full-time workers, employers can simply cut their time just enough so that employees are not technically full-time. That’s just an area of abuse that I think might occur.
However, I do know that healthcare is undergoing some big changes. I’m a pre-pharmacy major, and we’re discussing the high likelihood that pharmacists will essentially replace physicians as GPs and community pharmacy as we have known it for decades, will cease to exist. Pharmacists are moving into the role of MTM which will increase patient compliance (they are actually taking their medication and taking them the right way). Patient non-compliance statistics are startling (about 50%). This is one reason why pharmaceuticals are making big bucks and healthcare is such a big issue. When pharmacy makes that move, time will tell whether the combination of Obamacare and Pharmacy trends will benefit this country. I think there’s a good chance it might.
Caleb Tang
September 26, 2013
^ That’s my post for PAC! I forgot to put my name.
Sarah (Hudson) Market
September 28, 2013
As a nursing student, preparing to enter into health care it’s been challenging to see how the changed will be implemented for health care providers (MDs, RNs, PAs, ect.) and the client care. We’ll be moving into a more logistic-focused and “standard” procedure sort of action. For example, if it’s the hospitals “fault” for having a patient get a disease such as a UTI, then the hospital pays. Which sounds like it might be a good accountability for hospitals. BUt what is not being taken into consideration is all of the other factors that contribute to the disease process such as their immunity levels, their prior medical history, what caused the UTI may have been the very procedure (a necessary one) to alleviate some ailment the patient originally was admitted for. It causes a bit of unrest knowing this is the potential, probable future for healthcare and employees.
Rachel Palmer
September 30, 2013
It does not seem fair to stick with a plan that does not seem to be working at the expense of the average American. It is all well and good for them to make decisions about the future prosperity at the expense of today’s citizens, but if that “future” does not materialize in the next couple years as promised, I don’t think many will be surprised.
Marina
November 12, 2013
, i.e. he’s disallowing the Alice in Wonderland deenfse. But, judge! Right here where we said white’, that really means black’, and right here where we say up’, that really means down’, and over here in Section X, where it says, in’, that really means out.’