Obamacare - Health Care Reform Must Work

There's a saying about "timing is everything in life". It's a sense some people have about when to do something or, conversely, to avoid a particular situation. Timing is essential for capitalizing on some financial investments. For example, those who may have passed on a Microsoft investment during the 1990s, must pay dearly to try and catch up on this lost opportunity.

Those who accept the essential reforms offered in the Obamacare Health Care Reform initiatives have an opportunity to access health insurance, many for the first time in their lives.They're able to sign up for affordable health insurance heretofore unavailable to people with pre-existing conditions, or who work independently and therefore have been unable to access employee group policies. 

If Republicans, somehow, have their way with eliminating Obamacare, the people who qualify for the health insurance plans through the exchanges will not have the access to policies they can afford. There's no alternative to people who have health insurance through the exchanges if Obamacare is somehow eliminated. Those who are signing on these plans will be left without any coverage. 

In spite of problems with roll out of the health insurance exchanges, the timing issue is now a lost cause with grumbling Republicans who are "shocked, shocked" about the glitches with the computer sign on platforms. Uninsured people "get it" about how insurance exchanges are going to provide coverage when these systems are finally operational. Republicans won't be able to  put this genie back in the jar. Their timing on this issue was wasted by their over zealous government shutdown debacle. Rather than seize the moment, when Obamacare was in the throes of computer platform glitches, the Republicans focused, instead, on harming everybody in the nation with their preventable government shutdown efforts. Instead, Republicans should've "held their fire" regarding the Obamacare roll out and captured the timing of the frustration with the opening computer glitches. Now, when people are actually signing up for the insurance exchanges, the Republicans are the proverbial voices in the dessert. They're preaching negatively about the glitches, but 48 million uninsured people are more interested in how to access the exchanges than hearing from stupid Republicans who simply want to foil the Obamacare plan.

At this point, Obamacare must work.The timing is past when this important health care reform can be recalled. Entire health systems and insurance policies are now designed to accommodate the Obamacare reimbursement coverage for wellness care as well as the elimination of pre-existing conditions as a barrier to coverage.

Unless Republicans can offer an alternative to Obamacare, they should do whatever possible to support it's operational success. In so doing, insurance carriers can grow by creating exchanges to meet the needs of the uninsured. It's entirely possible to generate a profit by providing coverage for people who manage their health rather than use emergency departments for primary care, because they have no health insurance (like so many do now).

It's time for Obamacare to succeed. Republicans who waste time screeching about repeal have lost their sense of timing and, as Senator John McCain says, are engaged in a fool's errand.  

Obamacare's timing is right for our nation. It offers a market based system for providing affordable health insurance for everyone who qualifies for a plan, regardless of pre-existing heath conditions.  

It's essential for President Obama and Secretary of Health and Human Services Sibelius to urgently fix what's wrong with the Obamacare sign on platform. Health Care Reform must deliver the health care services vitally needed by the nation's 48 million uninsured who urgently need this reform. The time is right and success is essential. 

Republicans Offer No Alternative to Obamacare - Pointing Fingers Without Solutions

Republicans are masterful at pointing fingers but rarely do they offer solutions. This is clearly the situation with their compulsive political obsession against the health care reform law known as Obamacare.

Some 48 million Americans were uninsured in 2012, which was not statistically different from the prior year.

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/stories/2013/september/17/census-numbers-uninsured-numbers-remain-nearly-unchanged.aspx

Republicans circle their political wagons around their fanatical opposition to Obamacare. Nevertheless, they don't offer an alternative to how our US health care system can afford to pay for 48 million uninsured, if they don't have insurance coverage.

When 48 million people are uninsured, they use the expensive hospital emergency departments for illness care. These bills are seldom paid. Hospitals are required to treat everyone who presents in an emergency department but they're unable to recover the cost of providing this "charity care". Therefore, hospitals pass the cost of caring for uninsured over to those who pay for their care in a very clever formula known as "cost shifting". In other words, a small percentage of every charity care bill is passed on to everyone else who pays their bills. Republicans offer no solution to this dynamic. Apparently, Republicans like cost shifting. If they don't like it, they'd do something to prevent the practice. This "something" could be "insurance exchanges." 

There's a well established precedence for insurance exchanges already working in Massachusetts. Republican Governor Mitt Romney designed this law. Governor Romney's support for the health care reform law, that later became the model for Obamacare, is working in Massachusetts and it was a Republican governor who put it in place. Now, this same law is not worthy of helping all Americans.

Therefore, if Republicans want to repeal Obamacare, just because they don't like it, they must find an alternative to replace it.  

Otherwise, 48 million Americans who are waiting to sign up for Obamacare insurance coverage, so they'll be able to pay their hospital bills, won't have any alternative but to continue to use emergency care if Republicans have their way. This is very bad for protecting the health of our Americana workforce. Americans must be healthy to be productive. Furthermore, the cost shifting of charity care becomes impossible to fund because this add-on drives up the cost of all health care.

America has an enormously successful health care system.This sytem is imploding in may places because the cost of providing care isn't being recovered through reimbursement. Republicans don't seem to think the benefits of our nation's world renown medical science is worth protecting, by allowing people to buy health insurance to pay for care. They don't like Obamacare but won't offer any alternative.

Until Republicans provide an alternative to Obamacare, those among them who screech, like Senator Ted Cruz and Congesswoman Michele Bachman, should be prevented from pointing fingers, when they offer no solutions.

Link to Affordable Care Act:  http://www.hhs.gov/opa/affordable-care-act/