Rosemary's Baby

"If you think things are bad now, just wait until single payer comes around..."

I think if we all tried to come up with a witch's brew to match ObamaCare, I doubt if we could do it. Some say ObamaCare was constructed such a way to guarantee failure. I am not yet in that camp - although that might be the final outcome. And medical care experts keep telling us if you think our healthcare is screwed up now, just wait until we go single payer. Especially when the government is stuck right in the middle of the mix.

Right now, ObamaCare is the failed product of a bad recipe. And the longer it sets into the economy, the worse it seems to get. Today in the paper was an article about how unaffordable the premiums have become. So much so, more and more folks are opting for Bronze Plans. That is a crafty new term equal to a driving a Chevy Nova, or some economy car. Simply put, a Bronze Plan has a much higher deductible than other plans. So more and more people are spinning the wheel of chance, hoping they don't get sick for a year. If they do, it could be Katie bar the door expensive.

And how did the recipe get so bad in the first place? We need to remember how this thing was born. A gargantuan bill, crafted by lobbyists, and inflated by special interests and "K" Street sharpies. It was endorsed and voted for by Democrats in Democrat controlled House and Senate. Passed in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve, with nary a soul who read it. Any cost containment feature Republicans suggested were "deep sixed". So, every Republican disowned this thing and not one voted for it. It limped onto the President's desk with more flaws in it than anyone could have imagined.

Just recently, two of the revenue provisions in ObamaCare had some surgery. The GFY 2016 Budget Bill "paused" the medical device tax and the so called Cadillac Tax. This is a good thing (sort of). However (comma), since there is still no cost containment in this messy law, taking out any revenue features will just cause some more "Whack a Mole" games to be played with costs. In other words, they will just pop up somewhere else (like maybe premiums?)

As we head forward, the caretakers of this law are certainly not in alignment. People on the most right side of the street want this thing killed and buried, never to be heard from again. The folks on the furthest left side of the street are just waiting until things get so bad we can replace it with single payer. And the moderates on both sides want some kind of a fix to keep it going. The problem with the proposed "fixes" are is this - most are as different as night is from day. And all are expensive.

Welcome 2016. I feel many significant things will happen this year. Obama's baby, the Affordable Care Act, has become more like Rosemary's Baby. And because of its evil influence on our economy, it will become more of an unwanted child every year. Not only is this baby no longer cute, but is is increasingly unaffordable. Methinks it might be time to put this kid up for adoption.