The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is designed to solve real under-insurance problems. It is designed to solve some of the problems that existed in the US Health insurance system, that were as a nation we all facing, not so very long ago.
If the GOP manages to Repeal the ACA -- then what? What would the GOP have us do -- return to the broken insurance system of the past. One where consumer-protections were few, and health consumer anxieties were many, and spread among the populace far and wide.
Medical bills cause 62 percent of bankruptcies
by Joan McCarter, dailykos.com -- Jan 05, 2012
A study released Thursday [pdf] by the American Journal of Medicine finds a huge increase—nearly 20 percent—in medical bankruptcies between 2001 and 2007. Sixty-two percent of all bankruptcies filed in 2007 were tied to medical expenses. Three-quarters of those who filed for bankruptcies in 2007 had health insurance.
[...]
So the GOP --
if they get their way -- would they return us to an economic reality where Medical Bankruptcies are the norm, not the rare exception. A world where
the buyers of insurance must always beware -- not the sellers of it.
If the GOP manages to Repeal the ACA -- then what? Would they put us back on that treadmill of run-away insurance premiums costs? Nothing to stop it. Nothing to demand a "minimum level of care" ... per insurance dollar spent.
18 Ridiculous Statistics About Medical Bills, Medical Debt And The Health Care Industry That Will Make You So Mad You Will Want To Tear Your Hair Out
by Michael Snyder, endoftheamericandream.com -- Feb 1, 2011
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#1 According to a report published in The American Journal of Medicine, medical bills cause more than 60 percent of the personal bankruptcies in the United States.
#2 According to that same study, approximately three-fourths of those that do go bankrupt because of medical bills actually do have health insurance.
[...]
#10 Between 2000 and 2006, wages in the United States increased by 3.8%, but health care premiums increased by 87%.
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#18 Approximately 46 million Americans do not currently have any health insurance at all. That means that 46 million Americans are just one really bad day away from financial ruin without any protection whatsoever.
[...]
If the GOP manages to Repeal the ACA --
then what? Would they simply cast
15% of Americans back into the ranks of the Uninsured? Kick 46.3 million of us back into a world where the
Emergency Rooms become the defacto care-giver of last resort --
as dollar-foolish as that may be.
U.S. Census Bureau data on the medically uninsured simply can't be denied
The report, which says 46.3 million people lacked coverage as of the end of 2008, makes the case for reform stronger than ever by punching holes in arguments that minimize the plight of the uninsured.
by Michael Hiltzik, LATimes.com -- Sep 17, 2009
[...]
"That's a solid and respected estimate," Timothy D. McBride, a professor of public health at Washington University in St. Louis, told me.
He called the figures "alarming," because one trend they underscore is the decline in employer-sponsored health coverage. The percentage of the country covered by workplace plans dropped last year to 58.5% -- down from a peak of 64.2% in 2000 and the lowest level since 1993. Taking up some of the slack was the government, which expanded the number of persons covered by Medicaid by 44% to nearly 43 million.
[...]
If the GOP manages to Repeal the ACA --
then what?
What would the GOP have us do -- return to the broken insurance system of the past?. One where consumer-protections were few, and health consumer anxieties were the everyday norm, spread far and wide.
THAT would demonstrate the height of their "inaction" in action -- but would hardly qualify as a "workable solution" -- one designed to correct the health insurance problems of the past, that we've all just recently gone through.
Who wants to return to that under-insured world? One in which the GOP Repealers once again get their corporations-first way ...