Based on the fact that people when asked if they like the elements of ObamaCare without telling them it the program is ObamaCare most people like them but when asked if they like ObamaCare most people say no, the only reason that can explain this is that the people asked don’t really know what ObamaCare it is all about at best and in many cases have been fed a lot of misinformation and have been told it is something to fear. (Government take over, death panels, rationed care, bureaucrats between you and your doctor….all not true).

Read though this list.  I bet you will find out that ObamaCare is better for you and those you love than what we used to have.  Note that some things are in place now, some kick in over the next few years.

  1. You cannot be kicked of your insurance plan because you get sick.
  2. Children born with preexisting conditions cannot be denied insurance.
  3. If you lose your job you do not lose your health insurance.
  4. If you or a loved one gets really sick, insurance companies cannot cap your benefits so you run out of coverage.
  5. Being a woman should not be considered a preexisting condition that justifies higher insurance rates.
  6. If you want insurance and you have a preexisting condition that prevented you from getting insurance before you cannot be denied coverage or priced out of market.
  7. You do not have to stick with a terrible job just because of your health insurance coverage.
  8. Many people will have a greater choice of insurance plans and those plans will be more competitively priced.
  9. Your kids, up to age 26 can stay on your insurance policy if you chose.
  10. It will help lower the per person cost of health care through various means, none of which will be rationing.
  11. It will improve care by providing more efficiency in the system with better information sharing, such as of medical records, best practices, reducing the need for redundant tests, providing for preventative care with no copays, encouraging many innovative ways of providing care at lower costs. (Other countries have better care, healthier populations and better healthcare outcomes yet spend much less than we do per person.)
  12. It will create and hundreds of thousands of needed healthcare, healthcare related and other jobs.
  13. The state governments are helped financially to cover the poor which is good for the poor, is good for the states and creates needed jobs in the states.  The federal government will pay 100% of the cost of the new coverage for 3 years and later, it will be scaled back to 90% of the care but that is still a great deal for state government and the citizens of those states.
  14.  Getting sick will result in far fewer bankruptcies which costs health care providers, paying patients businesses and consumers money.  (The last I checked about 50% of personal bankruptcies are precipitated by the lost of healthcare coverage and/or the need for medical care.  The loss of jobs causes many bankruptcies and ObamaCare will help create jobs so that will also help.)
  15. It requires people who can reasonably afford health care coverage to take personal responsibility for their own medical care costs.  It does this by making it harder for currently healthy freeloaders to game the system by waiting until they get sick to buy healthcare coverage and drive up rates for everyone.  (This healthcare insurance avoidance penalty
    [or tax depending on who you ask] on freeloaders will ONLY affect the freeloaders.  Based on what has happened in Massachusetts with RomenyCare, it only affects about 1%.  If you have insurance or cannot afford insurance, you are not subject to the penalty/tax.)
  16. It keeps all of us from paying for the most expensive type of medical care (in emergency rooms)  the poor must rely on when they get sick because emergency rooms must treat everyone regardless of ability to pay.
  17. While the law does not require small businesses with fewer than 50 employees, (most small businesses fall into this group) to provide health insurance, it does incentivize them with tax credits that help small businesses afford to provide healthcare for employees.  And the law provides a means for employees with jobs that do not offer insurance to get quality non-group coverage at affordable rates.
  18. It mandates minimum levels of insurance coverage that protect patients and it mandates that states that participate in the plan cover with all those living at or below 100% or 133% of the poverty line be covered by Medicaid.  Right now, some states only over people who make less than 26% or 35% of the poverty line and do not cover poor (jobless) adults unless they have kids or are disabled.
  19. It caps the amount of excessive compensation, profits and other non medical costs insurance companies charge to 20% of what they take in and mandates 80% of premiums are spent on medical care and related expenses.  This protects patients, employers who pay for coverage and still allows insurance companies to be very profitable.  (This week my small business got a rebate check from our health insurance carrier for almost $1,000 because they collected in premiums more than 20% more than they spent on medical care. This was what they over charged us and would have been extra profit for them if not for this law.)
  20. It provides for open exchanges on state levels (with a federal plan as backup if a state does not do its part) for businesses and individuals to buy insurance that is more competitively priced and with more attractive benefits.
  21. It helps medical providers from having to charge self-paying patients (and patients out of their network), more to cover losses from those that cannot pay.  (Since those covered by insurance, and only go to network providers, have the insurance companies negotiate rates providers can change, the providers often have to charge self paying patients and those out of their networks  more and sometimes much more than they are allowed to charge the insured patients.  Having coverage which more people can have now under ObamaCare, if you stay in network, usually protects you from these extra charges.  It also lowers the costs insurance companies have to pay to providers to help cover losses by those who are uninsured and cannot pay.
  22. I will put an end to private insurance company rationing of care based on profit motives.  The only death panel type situations I have run into have been with private for profit insurance companies.
  23. By lowering the cost of healthcare per person, by helping small business provide insurance, by making it possible for people without employer provided insurance to get insurance at a reasonable price it helps US industry be more competitive because of health care costs and also because of a healthier work force.
  24. Virtually no one will have to go without health care unless states do not accept the generous (100%) financial support for Medicaid patients for political reasons.
  25. The model ObamaCare is based on, was designed in large part by the same person and is almost identical to, RomneyCare, has been proven to be successful including the “controversial” personal mandate.

It is not right for people in the richest country in the world to be denied healthcare when virtually the entire world views it as a basic human right.  How can we consider ourselves qualified to be the Greatest Country in the World without providing for this basic human right?  Now that ObamaCare is the law of the land, this is not a barrier.