Ignore Fox Propaganda, Do Your Own Research on Obamacare

Today, intelligent people are used to non-stop propaganda and lies coming out of right-wing media. The volume and nature of their lies are literally mind boggling.  Unfortunately, millions of low IQ, Fox/Trump supporters incredibly believe virtually everything they’re told. Today, Trump World is buried under so much propaganda, it’s become an alternate reality where facts, the truth, and/or proof, are totally irrelevant. However, if you will recall, this kind of propaganda and non-stop lying started to become commonplace when Obama was President. Back in 2010, when Obamacare became the law, we saw the precursor of right-wing propaganda on a mass scale.

Do you remember the lies perpetrated by right-wing media, who didn’t want Obama to receive any credit for this major bill, which transformed how healthcare is administered in America?

• It’s a government takeover of healthcare.
• You won’t be able to keep your doctor.
• Death Panels!
• Healthcare costs are rising because of Obamacare.
• etc.

I’m sure some of you will remember the national surveys administered after the law was passed. If you recall, when asked if you approve of the “Affordable Care Act”, something like 59% of Americans were in favor of it. However, when the same exact survey went out, but instead described the law as “Obamacare”, the percentage of Americans who said they were in favor of the law, dropped to something like 47%. I think this is a good example, which illustrates how powerful propaganda can be.

During the Trump Administration, Republicans tried everything under the sun to destroy Obamacare and failed. One of the reasons they failed, despite promises from Trump every two weeks, for a fabulous new healthcare program, they literally had no alternative plan. As Trump said, I didn’t realize healthcare was so complicated.

As of early 2023, approximately 35 million Americans get their critical healthcare via Obamacare, the program Trump and the Republican Party tried to destroy. Man, this is a lifesaver for a huge number of Americans. What would they do if Obamacare didn’t exist?

I’m going to talk more about the law, but I want to pause for a brief story about a woman I met in early 2013. She was an accountant for a small company which had only 7 employees. This very small company could not afford to provide health insurance, so she was living without coverage. I asked her why she was taking such a huge chance on having her life destroyed by one unexpected, major health crisis. She told me that she wanted to get health insurance, but she couldn’t afford the exorbitant cost for one individual. I told her about Obamacare, she researched it, and several weeks later, she had a very good health insurance plan, which cost about $145 per month.

Before I get into the huge benefits of the law and how it changed healthcare in America, I want to point out that all insurance companies, such as Blue Cross and Aetna, who participate in the plan, are private companies. These companies go on the 50-state healthcare exchanges and compete with other private companies for the business of American consumers. That is the free market at its best. This is not a government takeover of healthcare.

There are other benefits from the law, but I’m going to highlight only what I believe are the big ones.

Thanks to the law,

• You can no longer be turned down for health insurance because of pre-existing conditions. It’s estimated that 35-40% of Americans have pre-existing conditions.
• If you’re self-employed, you can now buy quality health insurance.
• If you lose your job, the unemployed can buy quality health insurance.
• Women can no longer be charged more than men for their health insurance premiums.
• Medicaid was expanded.
• Preventive care is free to the patient.
• Your policy can no longer be terminated because you are using up the benefits. For example, before Obamacare, if you got cancer and your treatments were very expensive, after a certain point, the insurance company could legally terminate your policy. However, under the Affordable Care Act, you cannot be denied coverage for any reason, other than your failure to pay the premiums or fraud. This is called a guarantee issue.

Wow! That is an incredible list of enhancements to how healthcare is administered in America. Remember, before Obamacare became the law, around 35-40% of Americans could be turned down because they have a pre-existing condition. Women could be charged more than men. Really? Yes!

Before the law was passed, if you got cancer and your medical costs skyrocketed, insurance companies could literally drop you. And I love the fact the preventive care is now free. That means your annual physical doesn’t cost you one penny! This component of the law should motivate millions to sign up for an annual physical, where they can discover health issues while they’re minor ones, before they become dangerous and expensive to treat.

I don’t want to imply that Obamacare is perfect. It still has several flaws which need to be corrected. But overall, it’s the best thing which happened to healthcare in our lifetime. And don’t let anyone hit you with a bogus argument about subsidies. Everyone in America, who has employee sponsored healthcare, is being subsidized by the federal government.