When You Get Sick and Lose Income – An Argument for ObamaCare

When You Get Sick and Lose Income, You have No Choice to Drop Coverage, Thus a Private-Insurance System Hurts the Lower and Middle Classes

When people get sick they typically lose their income source. Unless they have savings, this results in a plan drop. Thus, private health insurance loses value in a catastrophic long-term event. While 30 states have in place Medicaid expansion as a safety net, millions are in danger of dying on the street in GOP controlled states due to Republicans rejecting Medicaid expansion and the Medicaid gap. That may sound harsh, but it is just fact.

Before the ACA the insurers used loopholes like the above, and then subsequently preexisting conditions, to exclude sick people from the market. Not out of evil, but because that is the smart thing to do when one considers capitals and not morals. (Why we evolved from laissez faire to social liberal economics after the Robber Barons and Great Depression).

The PPACA expanded coverage and eliminated preexisting conditions, and costs went up accordingly. In truth there isn’t much room for profit in healthcare and treating people is expensive (not no room, just not much). This especially true in America where we overpay for everything.

Without making a big deal out of this, the ACA is a lifesaver, single payer or further reform is needed, and the other side is essentially operating on false-logic that says that somehow a repeal will make things better for the middle class.

While it is true the middle class would pay less, it would not solve any issues with healthcare, and the only ones who would really benefit are the lucky ones and those who choose to maintain a plan and save money incase they actually get sick… but the problem is, insurance is supposed to help you out when you need it, not when you are healthy, working, and can afford it.

The truth is, while the ACA makes some rich richer, taking away the ACA just plays Russian Roulette with the lives of the all but the elite and top earners. While that group includes me and some of my friends, it doesn’t include every person i’ve ever met or every extended family member. My empathy kicks in and drives me to wake up and write about healthcare everyday, to stand up for those who can’t, but i’m just 1 in 320 million.

I need you to help explain to people that: “If you are working and get sick, you can lose your plan, and then you have no coverage”. The implication being in states that didn’t expand Medicaid, or in the absence of the ACA as a safety-net, this leads to a raw long-term deal for everyone aside “the few”.

America and the world long ago abandoned classic liberalism for social liberalism, the concept being that healthcare, education, and basics are human rights (just like freedom of speech, religion, press, and assembly). It doesn’t mean this is an easy goal to accomplish, but it does mean that the validity of the idea that we should dismantle government and defund the safety-net should be questioned.

The modern Democrats aren’t perfect, but they aren’t the ones leaving Americans on the streets to die like the modern conservative. We can craft laws with conservative values and fiscal conservatism in mind, but we should never simply cut holes in the safety-net over ideology.

I personally cannot and will not ever vote to take healthcare away, and will always vote for the politician (local, state, federal) who supports healthcare reform that benefits the lower and middle class. This is because I honestly believe in justice, morality, and ethics. For me, it is about human life, not about (the sometimes very frustrating) expenses, that, in their worst light, still today ration care (just like the insurers have done in the past).

In other words, i’m not saying ObamaCare is perfect, i’m saying it is the best we have now, it saves lives, and i’ll be fighting to keep it until single payer is on the table.

If there is “a social contract” i’m very sure it doesn’t say either “tax me to death” or “tell me what to do with my body but dismantle all funding”, “sign here”. No, indeed, citizens likely expect a little bit more and deserve a lot better than that.