Over the last year or so statistics and data keep coming out showing the successes (and a few failures) of the Affordable Care Act. This law is not perfect, but it has done great things for many people, especially the 23 million who gained insurance. And despite its flaws, the ACA has done well. Note, I call it the Affordable Care Act because that’s its name.
Now I have seen constant online and real-life trolls who HATE Obamacare with an absolute passion. But the drivel they spiel are either 1) lies, or 2) misunderstandings of the law. With the GOP on the verge of repealing this law that has literally saved lives, I felt it was time for someone to debunk these trolls and expose them for what they are. These are the most common comments I’ve seen repeated ad nauseam. This is in no particular order.
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“My insurance/healthcare [insert angry rant] since 2009! This Obamacare destroyed it!” Simple response here. The ACA was signed in March 2010, but didn’t begin to take effect until 2013 and really didn’t start until 2014. At least know when the law came into existence.
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“I signed up for Obamacare and [insert angry rant]” This socialist law is authoritarian and wrong!” THIS is by far the most common angry complaint people make. And anyone who knows even the very basics of the law know this is completely UNTRUE! The ACA is NOT government run healthcare. It is not single-payer and does NOT have a public option. So no one signs up for “Obamacare.” There is no such healthcare option. What these people most likely mean is that they signed up for a marketplace plan (or they are lying). Which then leads me to the next point…
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“Insurance is so expensive that I can’t afford it and I am already poor! I can no longer pay my bills!” This is simple, for anyone whose insurance would cost them more than 8% of their income is exempt from the mandate. So if you are living in poverty and your marketplace does not have an affordable plan, you are exempt. Simple. Also, if you had even a semi-compassionate state government you’d be on Medicaid, nice eh?
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“My employer dropped my health coverage!” Now I hardly even know how to respond to this. The ACA mandates that employers (save small businesses) to offer health insurance. In fact this law has allowed numerous small business to happily provide health insurance to their employees for the first time. So when they say they were dropped is an absurd lie or misunderstanding between them and their employer. A law that mandates they offer you insurance made you lose it? Even so, perhaps the problem is your employer. Aren’t Republicans all about finding a good job and the burden is on you the worker to do that?
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“I will go to jail because of this stupid law!” Yes, I have heard this. This is a HUGE stretch. Technically anyone who disobeys any law, even if it’s failing to pay a parking ticket over a long time, could be jailed. But get real people. The only thing that will happen is that you will (justly) pay a tax penalty. The police are not going to show up and arrest you. (Can’t believe I even humored that one).
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“My copays and premiums have tripled in just one year!” As opposed to before the ACA? Were they coming down? I highly doubt it.
Now here is one scenario that has some truth to it. But it’s highly dependent on where you live and your income. So I will be more kind with this. “I signed up for insurance and now have a [insert absurdly high number] deductible or [high number] premiums every month!” While this is possible, I do sincerely think most who say this are lying. Again, this could be possible for some, but not all. But if that’s the case, unless the family makes over 400% of federal poverty, they would have their premiums subsidized to make the insurance much more affordable. And there are many people who still live in areas (mostly urban) that have many many many plans to choose from. And that includes those with reasonable and low premiums, copays, and out of pocket maximums.
So this leads me to where just criticism should be discussed. The above scenario can be true for some. But this complaint (when sincere) is showing the biggest flaw of the ACA, there are still some people who make too much that they get limited tax credits, but don’t make quite enough that the insurance really “fits” them. There are many reasons for this, and it varies by region. The state might have not expanded Medicaid forcing more poor people, who are likely more unhealthy, into the exchange pools. They live in a rural area where there is little competition and one insurer has a monopoly on the market. There are other reasons that may be unique to the state/county.
So how do we fix this? There’s no easy answers here. But there are other countries that have ACA like systems and it works for the people. Likely the best for the US at this point is a public option to guarantee coverage for everyone and then finally get all states to expand the Medicaid as was intended. Sadly I see neither happening any time soon, at least not while the GOP is running things at the state and federal level
So in the end, there are reasons to be upset with the flaws of the ACA, but people (mostly Republicans and alt-left) need to stop trolling and spreading lies and misconception just because they hate Obama and Democrats. This law has saved thousands of lives, including mine, and I will not sit back and let it be bashed as it is.