The recent court decision in Texas that invalidates the entire ACA (a decision that will be subject, no doubt, to numerous appeals and a future SCOTUS decision) exposes the fatal flaw at the heart of the ACA. That is is that the ACA in effect requires that universal medical care be funded mainly by employers. But, is that fair or reasonable to do?
The ACA relies on the largely ad hoc mechanisms for provision of healthcare that have sprung up in the USA over the last few decades as a result of our lack of political will and ability to address the issue in a comprehensive fashion. And, when you think about it, what we have is not a workable or fair approach. Our sky high healthcare costs and byzantine insurance and medical system are the result of all this. — Which is why employer based healthcare insurance is an approach not used in most other countries; and why government funded universal healthcare is the norm – and very successful.
While the Texas decision breaks the partial and beneficial mechanisms that ACA provided. But, it was never a complete or totally viable solution; nor was it ever envisioned as such. Ultimately, we cannot rely on employer-based insurance to fix all of the problems in our healthcare system; and Congress knew that when the ACA was passed.
The stage is now set for a new battle on Healthcare, and the GOP has made itself the sole culprit in the creation of a situation where a lot of people are about to undergo great hardship and loss as a direct result of the GOP’s actions. They were already on the ropes following the most recent election, and now they’ve put themselves in a far worse position. Hopefully, this motivates them to be part of the solution this time around; and hopefully the Dems will make good on all that rhetoric about creating a collaborative atmosphere inside the Beltway to replace the combative one we’ve had to endure since the reign of Newt Gingrich.
But then again, the GOP rose to dominance through a deliberately fact-free and ideology-only approach to governance and policy-making. While a reasoned and collaborative approach is necessary, I don’t have much hope that the current GOP leadership is capable of doing so, let alone interested.
The Republican party has shown over and over that they view governance as a Cultural War, not a dialog between various interests and stakeholders.
Battles are of use only destroying things, not building new ones. And, so as long as the GOP is focused on battling with the Dems (and v.v.), nothing will be built, and critical issues, like Climate Change, will suffer from a lack of American leadership and participation. All that will happen is that many more important things, like the ACA, will be destroyed. If unchecked, we will all eventually be consumed by this destructive madness.
– Pastor Allen
Copyright (c) 2018, Allen Vander Meulen III.
The Here and the Hereafter 