Conservative are a funny bunch. In just a couple of years they’ve gone from Obamacare will have death panels, and will kill seniors and children, to simple opposition to the individual mandate. For now the cry has become that Americans don’t want to be forced to buy something they don’t want!
Let’s look at some facts concerning America’s Health care system and the individual mandate:
Since 2000, hospitals have provided more than $367 billion in uncompensated care, according to the American Hospital Association.(1)
The individual mandate will affect very few people, in Massachusetts, less than 0.3 percent of people paid any penalty. (2)
In 2004, 14.8 per 100,000 children were diagnosed with an invasive cancer. (3)
1.87% of American women between the ages of 30-50 will be diagnosed with breast cancer. (4)
$367 billion is a lot of money. In 2011 alone, hospitals provided at least $41 billion in uncompensated care, with some estimates as high as $49 billion. So who picks up the slack? The insured of course pay more in premiums to subsidize the uninsured, and the government, as in our tax dollars picks a fair amount as well, adding to the deficit
So when a conservative argues against the individual mandate, they are in effect claiming that they are willing to pay more to compensate hospitals for the freeloaders that don’t carry insurance, and the poor who can’t afford it. Plus adding more to the national debt.
And the individual mandate is aimed only at the freeloaders. Very few people will affected by the mandate. The main reason is that the vast majority of people want health insurance. When is the last time you knew someone who looked for a job without benefits? In Massachusetts the number of uninsured is the lowest in the country, now less than 5%. This is due to the bi-partisan Romneycare, with its mandate. Romneycare is also known as the socialist, government takeover of health care called Obamacare.
The mandate will increase the size of insurance risk polls and help mitigate the growing problem of “bad debt,” burdening hospitals. And will provide funds for the expansion of programs that help the poor, and low-income get health coverage. Again lessening the burden on both the health care industry, and taxpayers.
So the mandate will affect that very small percentage of Americans who can afford, yet decide not to purchase health coverage, and roll the dice knowing their odds of a serious illness or accident is extremely low.
And of those who do roll the dice?
The conservatives, and even some progressives simply say, “too bad.” If they want to opt out of having health coverage, then they must fully opt out and be turned down if they cannot afford their treatment. In other words, let them die.
But let’s say that just one million couples decide not to buy health coverage, and those couples average one child per couple. That’s a total of a million kids. We know from the statistics, that of those million children, about 140 will be diagnosed will cancer.
So because of their parents deciding to “roll the dice,” we should let those 140 kids die? Or, because of their own decision should we just let the thousands of women who get breast cancer just suffer without treatment? Is this really the country we’ve become? Is that today’s new “Moral Majority,” or “Christian Right?”
The debate about health care is NOT about Obamacare, or Obama, or democrats, or republicans. It is about our wives, our sons, out daughters, our friends, our husbands, our neighbors, and all the people in our American community.
Despite their rhetoric, I know no conservative, or Tea Party member who would not help a child with cancer if they could, or who doesn’t rejoice at a woman’s recovery from breast cancer.
But there will be conservatives who in their worship of their Gods, money and capitalism, who simply accept the poor, and working poor receiving less than adequate health care, and agree with New Jersey Tea Party, and GOP Senate nominee Steve Lonagan who said, “I have no interest in paying for your health care. I'd hate to see you get cancer, but that's your problem, not mine.”
No, it’s everybody’s problem. If you can turn a blind eye to the needs of the poor, and the sick, you are not a good person. And you sure as hell are no Christian.
Sources:
(1) American Hospital Association, CNBC Obamacare to help hospitals in uninsured areas: Tenet CEO.
http://www.cnbc.com/...
(2) Brookings Institution Ten Questions About Obamacare You Were Too Embarrassed to Ask
http://www.brookings.edu/...
(3) National Cancer Institute at the NIH Childhood Cancers
http://www.cancer.gov/...
(4) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Breast Cancer Risk by Age
http://www.cdc.gov/...