The Sage Observer

Our Affordable Care Act

          What is it that our government (and far too many of our people) don’t understand about the need to replace the ACA, the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, with national healthcare for all, i.e. universal access to healthcare for all citizens from the cradle to the grave modeled after our present system of Medicare, and do it now. Our people need it; our country needs it; and, our government needs it—replacing ACA with universal healthcare for all will most surely take a multitude of monkeys off their backs as well as ours.

          Today, two different federal appeals court panels issued conflicting rulings on whether the government could subsidize health insurance premiums for people in those states that use the federal insurance exchange, rulings which declare that government cannot subsidize insurance for those in states that use the federal exchange. Here we go again! Around and around we go; where we will stop, nobody knows. Of course, these will be appealed, and you can read all the details in the media; but these are just more among many stumbling blocks in the face of progress—and to what end? Where beyond mass chaos is all this going? Let me ask some questions. How much longer do Americans have to suffer the worry, uncertainty, insecurity, poverty, and, yes, even death before our government will adopt a universal national healthcare system with access by all—healthcare wherein all one who has a legitimate medical need can go to an emergency room, or to his or her doctor of choice and make an appointment for service. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel, the system(s), minus whatever tweaks may be necessary, are essentially there, they are in place. What we are doing and where we are going is abhorrent and for what—to what end?

How much longer must employers, especially small business’s many of whom cannot afford the costs, be straddled with ever increasing employee healthcare costs, costs which inhibit planning and destroy profits, putting many out of business? How much longer will the public put up with a dysfunctional government which refuses to do the job for which they are paid? How much longer will we the people put up with a Shadow Government which has usurped the rights of the people through bribery, deceit, “revolving doors” and other nefarious courses of action?  How much?

When adopted, this healthcare plan should and must be administered from a “stand-alone”, “pay as you go”, fund just like Social Security, completely transparent to the public and funded by a specific tax designated for that purpose. I suggest a surtax on income from all, adjusted annually so as to run neither a deficit nor a surplus. This should be managed, in my opinion, by experienced doctors and monitored for efficiency and good service to the benefit of the people.

Think about all the good this will accomplish if properly managed (and that is what we pay our government to do—in the final analysis, they are public employees and it should be no other way):

This will be a huge relief to our employers.

This will (and must) amount to a huge reduction to healthcare costs as a whole as well as an immediate reduction to our national deficit and consequently a venue toward the ultimate reduction of our national debt.

This will lead to the addition of thousands, if not millions, of hours to the time schedules of our Congress spent in arguing and bickering, which, when added to the elimination of the four hours or more they spend every day collecting money from the lobbyists, representatives of our Shadow Government which buys their votes (this to be accomplishment by a Constitutional Amendment to eliminate private money from all political campaigns upon penalty of imprisonment) will be a beginning in their getting a job done, once more, for the people.

This will enhance the morale of the people taking one big monkey off their back.

This will reduce poverty.

This will be a boon to our economy and our prosperity

          The list above is not all inclusive. I’m sure other benefits will become evident as we put the new system into effect. Also, the people should not be fed a false bill of goods as they have too often in the past. Although total costs will be reduced, no one should be led to believe that the benefits are free. They will not be—all must pay their fair share. In fact, supplemental insurance may be necessary as is now so with Medicare; and, in fact, close surveillance must be maintained with imprisonment for those who abuse the system, including doctors, business owners and managers, and all other abusers.

          With freedom goes responsibility. Put all the pressure you can on your representatives and the President to get this done as soon and as much as possible. Pressure them to get this done and put it behind them so they can solve the next many problems before them.

Ronald Miller

Email me at mtss86@comcast.net. I welcome your comments.