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Individual mandate renders Obamacare a problem magnet

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The individual mandate is an insurance-lobbyist imposed nail in the coffin of the Affordable Care Act. Health insurance will become unaffordable for millions of Americans now that two major insurance companies are pulling out of state exchanges.

To correct this looming domestic failure, we need to understand how we got to this point.  The Affordable Care Act was meant to be a lifeline to millions of Americans who did not have insurance.

The uninsured could have never prioritized healthcare. They could have been dropped by their insurance company after their claims got out of hand. They could have never been insured due to preexisting conditions. Maybe they simply could not afford health care.

In 2008, all three Democratic primary candidates, Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. John Edwards, promised health care reform. Obama topped everyone by opposing an individual mandate. He defeated his primary opponents through promising to reduce health care cost — not universal health care.

After one year in the White House, Obama began to sell his Affordable Care Act. It was a difficult process because, in 1994, insurance company lobbyists humiliated then-President Bill Clinton when he proposed health care reform.

The only way Obama could pass the 2012 Affordable Care Act in Congress is to get this powerful, wealthy and influential lobbyist groups agree with the plan. They had to make sure their companies remained profitable.

The individual mandate resurfaced. Insurance companies added it to the Affordable Care Act. In 2012, the Supreme Court capitulated to the lobbyists and upheld the mandate as a tax.

In August, United Health Care and Aetna pulled out of the exchanges. The largest health insurance companies have realized that the Affordable Care Act is no longer profitable.

Americans are having trouble understanding this since their premiums have skyrocketed, which was because insurance companies make a profit based off the number of people insured.

Insurance companies want to balance this figure by placing the insured in three categories: Those who have chronic medical problems, those who rarely file claims and those who never do.

Insurance companies need the rarely and never sick to outnumber those with chronic claims.  Otherwise, they will fail miserably like they are now.

These companies need a large pool of customers. What has happened is that they didn’t account for the fact that new customers were going to file multiple claims.

This poor foresight meant Americans did not get to keep their plans if they liked them, Companies premiums increased, individual premiums are higher than the tax penalty and insurance companies are leaving the exchanges.

They don’t have a “tax” for not participating unlike the millions of voting Americans.

The Affordable Care Act needs to be revamped to break up the iron grip that pharmaceutical companies and health equipment providers have on our country. These companies are holding America hostage by charging $60 for a $5 inhaler.

Now, expound that 1,200 percent profit increase and apply it to all the medication and health care equipment in a hospital. Hospitals are now charging $40 to new parents to hold their own baby.

They even charge $8,900 for a broken toe.

This stranglehold has to be stopped. Obama should have kept his promise in 2008 and focused on lowering the cost of health care rather than making sure everyone has health insurance.

Opinion columnist Cari Netemeyer is a creative writing senior and can be reached at [email protected] 

2 Comments

  • Cary … your whole TRIPE OF A PIECE is worthless. You are clueless as to this whole thing works.

    First off Cary … the ACA was PASSED IN 2010, but upheld in 2012.

    Second off … NOT ONE REPUBLICAN … VOTED for the farce.

    The insurance companies jumped on board because it was MANDATED … and they thought it was going to be a JACKPOT. They never factored in the independence of the individual American.

    ObamaCare was the first time in American history when citizens were FORCED to BUY something by GOVERNMENT DICTATE. Progressives thought it was GOING TO BE FREE … and were shocked when the TRUE PRICES were announced.

    ObamaCare is DYING … Insurance providers are LOSING MONEY hand over foot, and are pulling or have pulled out out of the state programs entirely. Some states only have ONE CHOICE of provider. And the ObamaCare exchanges are failing as well, not that states have to burden the cost.

    Cary is so GULLIBLE that she thinks ObamaCare can BE FIXED. It’s unfixable, and has been devastating to the American workforce, which has ruined careers, and reduced the work week down to 30 hours instead of 40 hours. Part-time jobs make up most of the new jobs that are being counted.

    Th SOLUTION to this Cary: Providers Selling policies across State Lines … Free from government intrusion. The MARKET has to be the DETERMINING FORCE here. We’ve seen what GOVERNMENT DICTATES have caused with ObamaCare.

    But with Cary being a Progressive … there is an UNENDING BELIEF that GOVERNMENT is the END ALL to EVERYTHING … AT LEAST when SOCIALISTS are in THE WHITE HOUSE.

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