Do you support 'Obamacare'? What are your reasons?

It’s not that great, and has led to some really stupid outcomes, like companies refusing employees full time work to avoid paying the costs. Still, it’s an improvement over the nothing that was there before, and generally helps more people than it hurts by reducing healthcare costs and improving access to care.

It was a watered down political compromise that, while making some positive improvements, left most reformists unsatisfied, a problem that probably is recognized by most thoughtful opponents. Regardless, it’s coming and at this point rolling it back is returning to an even dumber status quo.

Not for it. One small reason is that I believe homelessness and hunger will increase dramatically because so many people will be out of work, or forced to take on Obamacare’s insurance costs and won’t be able to meet their other bills as a result.

Absolutely for it. It’s not perfect—no legislative initiative this big could be right out of the gate—but I believe it’s several steps in the right direction for getting our sadly broken healthcare system fixed and not, as its opponents insist, a disaster-in-the making. Doing something right for as many citizens as there are in the U.S. is a monumental task that other presidents have ducked. I give Mr. Obama huge credit for pushing this through and I truly believe the time when the naysayers will be proven wrong.

I strongly support it over what we had before. Our healthcare system is the most expensive on Earth and one of the poorest in healthcare outcomes of any in the developed world. Those determined to kill Obamacare are only seeking to make things much worse so a few wealthy supporters of theirs can get even more obscenely wealthy.

I fail to understand how our government can fund such extravagant amounts of money towards building a killing machine, but cannot find reason to fund a healing machine.

I propose we switch that around. Charge a monthly payment to every citizen during war. Make all healthcare free. Since we have the best war machine in the world, then switching it around would create the best healthcare machine in the world too… right?

The reason I would support Obamacare, or any other system that provided universal health care, are these reasons:

• Preventive screening where hopefully chronic or cancerous conditions can be caught early enough to treat. It is much better and cheaper to find and fight a cancer in it’s beginning stages than try to fight it once it has a strong foothold and success of life diminishes greatly.
• Conditions can be treated before they become serious and the person goes to the ER because it has gotten too bad.
• People with minor like conditions will not likely end up in the ER because that is the only way they can see a doctor.
• Poor women will get better prenatal care.
• Those with insurance will be able to opt into a cost as cheap as the senators and other government officials get.

Just those reasons alone makes it much smarter to use Obamacare than what we have now.

I like the insightful responses on both sides, thanks everyone who answered thus far and those still yet to pony up their ‘two cents’ on the matter

I am for the ACA.
Most people that make an uninformed statement that ACA is going to be expensive, cause thousands of people to lose their jobs or be something against humanity have not read the ACA ( Obamacare ). They are repeating someone else with the same lack of knowledge of the law.

I’m against it for multiple reasons:
1) It mandates that your employer provide insurance. Employer HC is a dumb remnant from the New Deal era when there was a wage freeze and the only way to attract workers was perks such as HC. It would make much more sense to provide individuals the same tax credit as employers for HC premiums and have no employer mandate. You don’t buy your auto or home insurance from your employer and you don;t lose them when you lose or change jobs.
2) It absolutely increases costs because it increases the number of insured. We already have Medicaid for those who can’t afford insurance.It also mandates a once size fits nobody policy that by definition provides unwanted coverage. e.g. My wife went through menopause. We don’t need birth control. My premium went up 30% to become ACA complaint.
3) Freeloaders pay. The uninsurable (i.e. pre-existing conditions) get Medicaid.

Problem could have been solved much easier.

I support the concept, but I fear it. Government has a habit of always twisting a good thing all out of shape, and the scam artists are hard at work as well.

I would much rather see Universal Health Care paid through taxes.

I support it but also think it doesn’t go nearly far enough, I believe that single-payer health care is really the only way to get control of health care costs. Things I like about it:

* By far the most important reason—people can no longer be refused coverage for pre-existing conditions
* Second most important—insurance companies can no longer drop people from coverage for getting sick
* Insurers can no longer impose dollar limits on covering essential services
* Insurance companies’ profits and administrative costs are capped
* Certain preventive health services must be provided at no cost to the consumer
* This remains to be seen for certain, but the creation of health insurance exchanges should have two benefits: a) affordable policies will exist for low-income individuals and families, and b) if you believe in the free market, the existence of these exchanges should drive down health insurance premiums for everyone.

No. My reasoning is probably different than most. It’s actually a good idea in theory but in practice… The government has a way of messing up everything it touches. It’s not going to work as long as the government has control. Being that the drug companies regularly line the pockets of senators and such, it’s not going to be about care, it’s about lining pockets of senators. Also, if the fine you pay is cheaper than the cost of getting insurance people will opt to pay less. Trusting the government with something this big is foolish. They can’t even figure out how to repair bridges much less grandma.

Forcing people to deal with more government bullshit always ends well….and with their track record, how can you doubt them? They were right on top of the IRS and NSA!....oh wait, no they weren’t…

@DWW25921 government messes everything up it touches? Really? So you’re opposed to traffic laws, interstate road building, drinking and driving laws, superfund clean ups, drug quality regulations, food safety inspection, and fire departments?

It seems that a lot of people think this is a government insurance program.
Personally, I would like Medicare for all but the fears many are expressing about government screwing things up prevailed and now the only thing the government is doing is setting up exchanges where PRIVATE insurance companies can compete for your business. The government is also subsidizing premiums for those who can’t afford it but its still private insurance.
There are also rules that say the government can’t disqualify people who have pre existing conditions and that kids can stay on their parents policies until their 26. You also get a check up once a year with no co pay.
What is it that you DON’T like about it again?

Relevant

@Judi ^^ Thanks. He makes very good points.

@Rarebear I stand by my comment. Everything you mentioned needs serious work and using those examples didn’t prove your point well… Kinda proved mine… Thanks for that bud.

I’m absolutely for it, though I’d much rather have universal health care with a single payer system. Costs and health outcomes are far better in countries with such a system than they are in the US.

For me personally, it’s a huge positive. I’ve been self-employed for years, and have several pre-existing conditions. It wasn’t just that I couldn’t afford health insurance…I couldn’t get it, at any price. I was automatically denied. Because of that, I haven’t been able to get the regular tests and care that my health conditions call for. I’m extremely thankful that that will no longer be the case.

Something has to be done about healthcare, and at the moment I can’t find a better alternative to Obamacare. If conservatives had their way only those making above 250,000k a year would be able to afford any health services, since many of them seem to oppose the concept of both universal and employer based health coverage.

Clearly, the only way to fully understand the much needed health reform of ACA a person must READ the legislation. It makes good sense to me, who has seen hikes in premium costs and larger co-pays for years. Not only did I pay a higher rate because of my gender but also have huge spendowns. I’ve been paying premiums for health insurance at group rates for many years and have rarely used it. I can’t afford the exorbitant co-pays so I never meet the yearly deductible. I’m glad that we finally have a leader who isn’t afraid to take on big industries such as Insurance. I’m looking into opting out of my employer’s health insurance and participating in ACA. As for the achievements of the federal government are many including Clean Air and Water Acts, Equal Rights, OSHA, exploration and funding the settlement of the West – even now Las Vegas depends on the government to fund their dam for water. The CDC has helped with eradicating crippling diseases such as Polio, Measles, and Hepatitis. I think it always best to research answers to questions of this importance and not rely on the same old rhetoric.

If we’re bound to have universal healthcare, I think the best thing is to look at what other countries are/have been doing instead of striking out on our own, which is what ‘Bama is doing, re: Judi’s post above. http://www.fluther.com/164165/do-you-support-obamacare-what-are-your-reasons/#quip2803351

Snow other countries have single payor health care. You’d be in favor of that?

@Rarebear I’m not for Obama’s healthcare. But if you watch the video, the guy makes some excellent points about our cost vs. theirs, etc.

@snowberry Liberals would have much preferred to do just that, but it would never have passed. The result is that we have a compromise, and it’s better than doing nothing.

ObamaCare is an onerous bureaucratic nightmare as well as a congressional imbroglio. Here’s 37 reasons why ObamaCare is so bad.

I have my own problems with obamacare but mostly over issues of cost containment. I agree, in principle, of full universal coverage.

I have loved ones there and lived there myself. I never got why healthcare was tied to employment just never understood it. Here if you make under $79,880 per year or something like that you must get 3rd party medical insurance or you will be taxed 1% on your income. Of course I don’t come anywhere near that and my healthcare is free! fast! and thank you Australia.

*over $79880

Yes, because people shouldn’t lose everything they own just because they got sick. And there are many people living on the streets who will agree with me!

I am disinterested just because it is connected with the government. Remember trains? They were considered a blessing from heaven, but the government regulated them to death. Remember gold rushes and prospectors? Thousands of people went into the wilds to make their fortunes, but the government shut them all down because they were not needed for WW2.

I was carried into a hospital in 1981. I was there three days and the bill was less than a week’s wages. Ten years later the business had been taken over by insurance and government regulations, I spent one day in a hospital and the bill was more than a month’s wages. Ten years after that I went to a hospital, was not admitted, and the bill was three months wages. That is what happens when everybody has insurance and the government regulates everything. Government piles regulations upon restrictions until the only way an honest man can earn a living is by smuggling.