by Sandy » Wed Jan 18, 2017 12:03 pm
Well, basically what we had prior to the ACA wasn't working. Premiums were increasing at a rate that was ten times or more higher than the actual inflation rate, as were co-pays and deductibles.
What's been interesting to watch is the development of public opinion toward the ACA. Most of the opposition to it, the screeching, hollering and shrieking holy horror when it first came about, was from right wing extremist sources or the obstructionist Republicans who never bothered to explain exactly what it was that they so opposed, and never informed people of the actual benefits that were provided. What it took was actually getting people on the programs and exchanges, and covered by the insurance for a slow, gradual realization to occur that, hey, this really isn't the "mess" that the extremist obstructionists are saying it is. Most of the problems and the stuff that gets highlighted in the press are isolated instances, not overall, major problems. Any number of sources can be googled to point to the relatively tiny number of people who got caught in some kind of "mess" based on changes in the kind of policy they held before the ACA.
I said, a couple of years back, that once the learning curve and lag time on this thing cleared, and false impressions and propaganda were overcome with fact, a majority of Americans would be fine with the ACA, and that now appears to be the case. People are finding out that they like things like coverage for pre-existing conditions, extended coverage for children, an 80-20 split for spending on actual care as opposed to operational costs that include profit margins, the co-pay and prescription coverages, what's not to like? Yeah, a few companies have backed away because they don't like limiting their profits to multiple millions instead of billions, but can you imagine how well a system like this would work if the primary motivation of the insurance providers was actually serving people, instead of using a government initiated program as just another scheme to get rich without actually providing anything in return? Gosh, we might actually get to the point where we'd have the quality and speed of medical care that is delivered to the Germans, Swiss, Danes, Dutch, and Canadians.