Super commenter CJ Wolfe brought this news about the rising costs of Obamacare to my attention. Get ready for a lot more such bad news. Romneycare is already eating the Massachusetts state budget and MA had guaranteed issue, community rating, and relatively high premiums and relatively low numbers of uninsured prior to the adoption of Romneycare (not to mention being a high income state.) The adoption of Obamacare promises to be much more expensive and disruptive than the adoption of Romneycare.
Having said all that, if you ask most people they will say they are happy with the health care system. On the other hand, most people said they were happy with the health care system before Obamacare. I think the question is problematic as I think most people interpret it to mean quality of care rather than cost. People are also risk averse and are terrified at any change that leaves them open to having their lives destroyed by a medical emergency. That risk averseness worked against Obama prior to the passage of Obamacare and is working in his favor now.
The increased costs of Obamacare aren’t going to make much of an impact on public opinion in the very short-term. Rising home values and the (very slowly) expanding job market will be higher in people’s minds. That’s okay. People will be ready to listen to alternatives at some point – and maybe as soon as a couple of years. In the meantime conservative institutions can do the following:
1. Publicize the costs of Obamacare to the people who don’t read the WSJ or watch Fox News. That would be money better spent than on this than helping Karl Rove play favorites in Republican primaries.
2. Remember that people are risk averse and that any change needs to stress how it will maintain people’s security for extreme events while increasing their take home pay.
February 8th, 2013 | 11:15 am
Plenty of us knew and shouted about how disastrous Obamacare was going to be. Especially those of us who actually have experience with how small-businesses obtain insurance, and how the “old” system was massively biased towards large employers and Obamacare was explicitly designed to only increase that bias.
But I don’t think the GOP is going to be able to position itself to really benefit from the continuing disastrous implementation of Obamacare, for the same reasons they haven’t been able to benefit from the disastrous economic policies Obama and the Dems implemented.
As for “what people want”, I recall an article in, iirc, the LA Times Magazine from maybe 2008ish or so (it was pre-Obamacare debate, I’m pretty sure), where the author talked about how she (think it was a she) had some sort of serious disease that had had two major occurrences during her life, once in England and once in the US. In England, she was basically abandoned in her bed in the hallway along with an army of other patients, and had to fight tooth and nail for the staff to pay her any attention at all, let alone actually treat her. Most of the other patients there were unable to make the effort she was able to, and appeared to have been abandoned. Since she was fairly young and the disease isn’t fatal, she eventually recovered. In America, she received excellent care in modern, clean facilities. She also received a huge bill.
She said she preferred the English outcome.
What can you say to such a person?
February 8th, 2013 | 12:19 pm
As a result of Obamacare we might want to consider establishing ‘committees of correspondence,’ and vigilantes in order to properly deal with the so-called ‘death panels.’ Unless, of course, you want your healthcare to be subject to the whims of said ‘panels?’
February 8th, 2013 | 12:49 pm
How cowardly and un-Christian to be “risk averse” to being left open to “having [your life] destroyed by a medical emergency”. Oh, you mean the way it was for many, many people before Obamacare and still is for many today? Sometimes for the Culture of Life, ‘life’ is just a 4-letter word. I suppose the real Christian entrepreneur/maker just sucks up those risks like a manly-man, as does the reckless gambler.
Am I risk-averse? Damn straight. I’ve been laid off three times already since age 50. Hope you guys made your fortunes before that age.
February 8th, 2013 | 1:03 pm
[...] Super commenter CJ Wolfe brought this news about the rising costs of Obamacare to my attention. Get ready for a lot more such bad news. Romneycare is already eating the Massachusetts state budget and MA had guaranteed issue, community rating, and relatively high premiums and relatively low numbers of uninsured Source: Postmodern Conservative [...]
February 8th, 2013 | 3:21 pm
HT,
“Am I risk-averse? Damn straight. I’ve been laid off three times already since age 50. Hope you guys made your fortunes before that age.”
Just for the sake of clarity, are you explaining why you joined the median American in opposing Obamacare, or are you agreeing with me that Republicans need to focus on how their programs would maintain health insurance for catastrophic events?
February 8th, 2013 | 4:08 pm
1. Well, I guess we can use HT as a guinea pig for anti-Obamacare arguments, if he’ll let us.
2. Is Obamacare written in such a way that a future GOP HHS secretary can fairly seamlessly transition/gut it to encourage high-deductible “real” insurance plans by simply lifting all coverage mandates (that is, the mandate about what must be included in the premiums)? Given the train wreck of writing and implementation so far, it has seemed to me that this option may indeed be available, but I’ve never seen it definitively answered…
February 8th, 2013 | 4:35 pm
Brian, I dunno if it would fly legally.
February 8th, 2013 | 10:12 pm
[...] What Obamacare Means And What To Do About It » Postmodern … Go to this article [...]
Links
Blogs
Find Us
Contact