"Free - my favorite four letter 'f' word"
Excuse me - I have to get the door. I think it is reality knocking. Now that the 2008 and 2012 elections are over, all the promises have been made, we are now finding out the truth. And so far, the truth ain't pretty. Many promised us if we just pass this marque legislation on health care, all the inequities, all the injustices of the past will be made whole. Those who have never had health care, will now have it. In doing so, the big plus up is everyone's health premiums will be going down. Nobody really knows how Congress did it - the point is, they told us they did. We just needed to pass the bill so we can understand what is in it.
Some of the "nay-sayers" were against this historic piece of work. They said if you gave a bunch of stuff away for free, someone would end up paying the freight. The "nay-sayers" also said with more people using the system, and the reimbursement rates to doctors going down, rationing will occur. The reason? Fewer doctors will find the practice lucrative if the money is not there. In addition, one of the biggest cost drivers which was suppose to be taken care of (excess malpractice litigation) remains untouched. More costs, less revenue always equals "good-bye".
Then there is the "shell game" with the dollars. We are already collecting taxes to fund this behemoth, yet the "benefits" will not kick in until 2014. Hundreds, maybe thousands have lost their jobs in the medical device industry due to the 2.3% tax. What many (who have never worked in the real world) don't understand about this tax is this - it is a tax on revenue and not profit. If your profit after taxes in normally 5% and this tax on revenue is 2.3%, your profit after taxes gets cut in half. What goes? Usually people, as that is a companies biggest expense.
Okay - so what. I don't work in the medical device field, so these unexpected costs will not affect me. That is until you look at your health care premiums for this year. Oh-oh, did President Obama tell us a whopper on this one? We were told that this program, with all the reforms, will drive down the cost of everyone's premiums. Again, the "nay-sayers" said if we add people to the insurance rolls for "free", the costs need to be dealt with somehow. And that somehow is passing the costs on to the paying customers. For many, the Affordable Care Act has become the Un-Afforable Care Act. Even teachers, who have long supported this president, are getting a huge case of sticker shock when they see their new premiums.
The law is the gift that keeps on giving. The only problem is the gifts are lumps of coal. After passing this massive law which is over 2,500 pages long of golblety-gook, the ancillary regulations are now being promulgated. No worries mate, there are only 20,000 pages of them and more are being written every day. The law itself was passed by a group of back room legislatures, most of whom never read it, and the mountain of regulations are being put together by unelected bureaucrats.
So don't spend too much time looking for that free lunch which was promised. It is not there. Maybe our parents were right - there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Okay - so what. I don't work in the medical device field, so these unexpected costs will not affect me. That is until you look at your health care premiums for this year. Oh-oh, did President Obama tell us a whopper on this one? We were told that this program, with all the reforms, will drive down the cost of everyone's premiums. Again, the "nay-sayers" said if we add people to the insurance rolls for "free", the costs need to be dealt with somehow. And that somehow is passing the costs on to the paying customers. For many, the Affordable Care Act has become the Un-Afforable Care Act. Even teachers, who have long supported this president, are getting a huge case of sticker shock when they see their new premiums.
The law is the gift that keeps on giving. The only problem is the gifts are lumps of coal. After passing this massive law which is over 2,500 pages long of golblety-gook, the ancillary regulations are now being promulgated. No worries mate, there are only 20,000 pages of them and more are being written every day. The law itself was passed by a group of back room legislatures, most of whom never read it, and the mountain of regulations are being put together by unelected bureaucrats.
So don't spend too much time looking for that free lunch which was promised. It is not there. Maybe our parents were right - there is no such thing as a free lunch.
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