One Colossal Cluster

"Obama wanted to be remembered for ObamaCare. It was going to be his flagship - his signature achievement. Well, he will be remembered for something. Ruining the best healthcare this planet has ever seen."

I drive a fairly new Chevy truck. I am very happy with it. It is a quality vehicle and has far exceeded my expectations. That being said, I am not very adept at fixing cars or trucks. If someone forced me to take most of my truck apart and then put it back together, it would be a mess. So much of a mess, as we said in the service, it would be called a "cluster". Even if I could get it to run again, it would never run like before I dismantled it.

In 2009, the Obama Administration, along with the Democrats in Congress, decided it was time to "fix" our healthcare system. The Republicans were not in favor of it. They did not think it was broken. So they tried at first to hop on board with some cost saving ideas. The Democrats said "no thank you", so the Republicans stood down. Why? The "fix" was never about cost savings - it was only about cost shifting. Or as some economists said back then, "a massive redistribution of wealth".

Many health care experts warned the Obama Administration not to do it. Once we took our current health care system apart and replaced it with ObamaCare, we would never be able to get it to work the right way again. "Nonsense!" Obama and the Democrats cried out. This new whiz bang system was going to insure everyone, give most families a $2,500 reduction in premiums, allow everyone could keep their doctors, and force the rich would lose some of their precious money to redistribution. Only the last part of this guarantee came true.

Flash forward to today. As predicted by many much smarter than I, the wheels started coming off ObamaCare. First slowly, now quickly. ObamaCare is in its death spiral. Many major insurance companies have pulled out, and those which remain are forecasting more steep rate hikes in 2018. Faced with imminent disaster, the Republican House (with the support of the Trump Administration), passed a "repeal and replace" bill. A bill which few understand, supposedly is not really a good fix, and has miles to go before becoming law.

Right after the House passed the bill (which some call "TrumpCare"), the members went home to face angry mobs. Why? People are pissed. They hate what ObamaCare has become, and they don't trust what TrumpCare might be. It is a colossal "cluster". A box canyon with no way out. In other words, the well run truck was taken apart, and now we don't have a clue on how to put it back together again.

I am not going to beat around the bush. We all know where this is heading right now. With no fix in sight, the country will have to choice but to slide into a default position most have dreaded - single payer. Even with the country adopting single payer, without having Euro type rationing, it will totally explode our national debt. Bottom line - we are screwed, blued and tattooed.

Obama wanted to be remembered for ObamaCare. It was going to be his flagship - his signature achievement. Well, he will be remembered for something. Ruining the best healthcare this planet has ever seen. And what do we have now? One colossal cluster. Good luck to us all.