Health Care In America

The never ending debate about the health care system in America has been going on as far back as I can remember. There are those that want a single payer universal health care system and those who never seem to want anything to change.

The recently past "Affordable Care Act" seems to have even more intensified the divide in America when it come to its health care system.

Now what upsets me the most is that both Democrats and Republicans have become so bitter and partisan on all issues, that they simply are against anything the other side proposes regardless if it wil benefit them or not.

I am willing to bet that 95 percent of Americans have not even read the new "Affordable Care Act" that was recently past. Instead they simply rely on partisan cable news and radio shows for their information. Americans really need to start making up their own minds instead of listening to multi-millionaire tv and radio hosts who could careless about them.

So lets begin by reviewing how the new "Affordable Care Act" is going to be implemented year by year until 2015.

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

The above information is supplied by the Healthcare.gov website. You can read more in-depth information about each of the above mentioned topics there. In addition, you can read the actual "Affordable Care Act" law right here: Read Affordable Care Act Law

Now the reason I listed this information first was because I believe every American should actually know what he or she is arguing about firsthand; instead of through some secondary partisan media outlet whether it be on the right or the left.

So the biggest two arguments you here about the new healthcare law is about the "individual mandate" and that this is a government takeover of the health care system.

Now the problem many people have with the individual mandate is that they are being told that they have to buy a service from a for-profit corporation no matter what the cost may be.

Which bring us to the public option, which was not included in the "Affordable Care Act" law.

The public option is simply the idea of allowing American citizens an alternate choice when it comes to their health insurance needs. It essentially means that the government itself would act as the insurance agent instead of a traditional health care insurance company. Much like the current Medicare system works for older Americans.

The plus side of a public option is that the government does not have a need to make a profit for providing health insurance unlike a for-profit insurance company does. Therefore, in theory the premiums that individuals would have to pay should be much lower as compared to a traditional for-profit health insurance company.

The downside, according to some, is they simply do not like the idea of the government in control of their health insurance needs. They feel the government will either ration health care or limit their options for care in general. However, I simply do not understand why people would rather have a for-profit insurance company, which is more concerned about its stock price on Wall Street than their policy holders well-being, in control of their health care needs.

So why was their no public option included in the "Affodable Care Act" law?

The simple answer is money and power. The for-profit health insurance companies do not want to see a public option, because they know they will never be able to compete with the government when it comes to the premiums people would pay for their health insurance. Therefore, the for-profit health insurance companies have spent billions of dollars buying off politians and promoting fear through media outlets about a government take over of the health care system.

My personal opinions on our American health care system are as follows:

(1.) It is terrible and has been terrible for decades. Our entire health care system is based on people working for corporations. Having a health care system that is tied directly to your employment is just stupid. It stifles an individual's ability to live their real dreams in life and start their own business because they can not afford to buy their own health insurance. So people in America tend to stay at jobs they hate and have no desire to do just because they can not go without having health insurance.

(2.) I simply can not understand why Americans are so willing to pay so much in taxes to fund our American war machine, but are unwilling to pay a little more in taxes to make sure every American citizen can get the health care they need when they need it. I truly think most Americans simply have no idea what we spend on our American war machine.