Allegedly, repealing the new health insurance law will be impossible because voters will never give up a free benefit. The most common comparison is England’s NHS. Everyone in England loves the NHS, the entity that oversees the free health care in England. When times are tough it is the government that gets the blame for cuts or slow service, not the NHS. The Democrats hope this will be the case here in America, that citizens love their health care insurance and will demand more and more benefits.
There are many differences between England’s health insurance plan and ours. When the NHS was formed nearly everyone in the country gained something as far as cost and benefits go. In America the vast majority of people already have good health insurance and like their coverage. The vast majority of Arizonans will gain nothing with Obamacare, and many will be worse off like the young and the wealthy. There are still Arizona health insurance premiums to pay under Obamacare… there’s three big differences with the NHS right off the bat: Our plan isn’t free, the majority gain nothing, and many will be upset.
The NHS was supposed to become less expensive as time went on because people would be healthier after receiving regular care. Then medical advances and inventions resulted in services the citizens insisted upon and prices skyrocketed. England tried to lower their costs by underpaying doctors and importing doctors from poorer countries. This worked for a while, but no more.
As mentioned in another blog entry of mine, look at America’s Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988. It was repealed when senior citizens hated it so much they attacked a congressman, chasing him down the street. These folks didn’t like the law obviously. And why? Because they were REQUIRED to buy the insurance.
Don’t buy the story that Obamacare can’t be repealed. Forget whether it is legal or not for now, and simply consider the fact that the majority do not want it. And this number has grown since passage, exactly the opposite of what the Democrats had predicted.
Michael Higgins
602.405.8769
An Arizona health insurance broker.