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Friday, June 29, 2012

The President's ACA, Blessing or Curse


Insurance Corporations Still Win!


       Many believe that the SCOTUS ruling on the affordable Health Care Act is the greatest accomplishment for the public good since social security. I applaud President Obama's effort and tenacity in such a Herculean task, but I am not so convinced. I must admit that there are many good things contained in the law, but there are a few very troubling things also. Since the law was upheld by the court yesterday, the many good things have been talked about constantly on the various news programs, and I agree with all of them, so I won't comment on that part of the law. Instead I'll comment on the troublesome areas.
      First and foremost is the fact that the corporations again got what they wanted. The individual mandate was upheld along with the rest of the bill. The court had to find a way to accomplish this. It was done by allowing the entire law stand and by chief justice John Roberts voting with the left leaning judges. Pundits claim that he did it to prevent any further damage to the legacy and relevancy of HIS court. That is no doubt true, but there is another reason, namely that the court is a corporate court and was put in place to make decisions on behalf of the corporations. Even though it seems on the surface that the public has won, there is big profit in this decision for the insurance companies.
      Even before the AHCA law was first passed, the insurance companies went up on their rates by 25 or 30 percent in anticipation. And now that the SCOTUS has upheld the law (only yesterday), there are rumblings that the rates are going up again. And therein lies one of the main problems. The insurance companies need to be regulated! If there are no regulations (price controls), what is there to keep the rates from escalating OUT OF CONTROL as gasoline prices have done in the last several years? And since our economy is based on the cost of gasoline, when the cost of gasoline goes up so does everything else. Do we trust the insurance corporations to police themselves like we have the banking corporations, the oil corporations and pharmaceutical comprporations? If we do, we'll get the same thing from them that we have gotten from the rest; shoddy business practices, escalation of prices, and inferior service.
     It has been said that the insurance copmanies will HAVE TO cover those with previous conditions. That is a very good thing, but what is to prevent them from having such exhorbitant deductibles that out of pocket expenses render the policy useless, like many policies do now? They have insurance just to be able to say they have it, but are unable to use it! The only thing that will have changed is that, like many other corporations, the insurance corporations will become a drain on the nation's economy. They will be draining needed money out of the federal treasury by padding their bills with bloated and bogus fees.
     So, with the indivual mandate included in the insurance law, and without regulation and enforcement of those regulations, this health care law is, in my opinion a ticking time bomb. It will explode into the next big congressional fight, spilling over into the federal judiciary, which will continue to find imaginative ways to rule in favor corporations. Even now a federal court has ruled that Florida has a right to suppress voter participation although there is no evidence of so-called voter fraud. Corporatios contribute countless millions of dollars to many organizations in many states that bring voter supression lawsuits.
      In the case of the AHCA, I sincerely hope that I am wrong. But if history is any guide, I'm afraid I'll be proven right. Remember, corporations have NEVER lost an argument before this SCOTUS! 

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