Unacceptable Realities and Obamacare
[VV note: It is certainly ironic that much of the vitriol against the ACA comes from those who already have government guaranteed health insurance (e.g., all members of Congress), government single-payer health insurance (e.g., everyone on Medicare) or government health care (e.g., the VA). Or in the case of large retail employers like Walmart, many of their employees depend on Medicaid or other public assistance to pay for their health care.]
Paul Krugman, NYT
The other day I found myself hanging out with several other semi-public liberal figures (yes, we were drinking white wine), and the conversation turned to hate mail — specifically, what generated the most hysterical outpourings. For the others, it was often issues that are not my department, like reproductive rights. But for me, it’s two things: health care and monetary policy.
The hysteria over Obamacare is being well documented, of course; Sahil Kapur’s piece on “Obamacare McCarthyism” — the instant purging of any Republican who offers any hint of accommodation to the law of the land — is getting a lot of well-deserved attention. One thing Kapur doesn’t emphasize, however, is what I see a lot in my inbox (and in my reading): the furious insistence that nothing resembling a government guarantee of health insurance can possibly work.
That’s a curious belief to hold, given the fact that every other advanced country has such a guarantee, and that we ourselves have a 45-year-old single-payer system for seniors that has worked pretty well all this time. But nothing makes these people as angry as the suggestion that Obamacare might actually prove workable.
And it’s going to get worse. For two months, thanks to the botched rollout, their delusions seemed confirmed by reality. Now that things are getting better, however, you can already see the rage building. It’s not supposed to be this way — therefore it can’t be this way. If, as now seems highly likely, Obamacare has more or less achieved its enrollment goals by 2015, and costs remain reasonable, that won’t be accepted — there will be furious claims that it’s all a lie.
(More here.)
Paul Krugman, NYT
The other day I found myself hanging out with several other semi-public liberal figures (yes, we were drinking white wine), and the conversation turned to hate mail — specifically, what generated the most hysterical outpourings. For the others, it was often issues that are not my department, like reproductive rights. But for me, it’s two things: health care and monetary policy.
The hysteria over Obamacare is being well documented, of course; Sahil Kapur’s piece on “Obamacare McCarthyism” — the instant purging of any Republican who offers any hint of accommodation to the law of the land — is getting a lot of well-deserved attention. One thing Kapur doesn’t emphasize, however, is what I see a lot in my inbox (and in my reading): the furious insistence that nothing resembling a government guarantee of health insurance can possibly work.
That’s a curious belief to hold, given the fact that every other advanced country has such a guarantee, and that we ourselves have a 45-year-old single-payer system for seniors that has worked pretty well all this time. But nothing makes these people as angry as the suggestion that Obamacare might actually prove workable.
And it’s going to get worse. For two months, thanks to the botched rollout, their delusions seemed confirmed by reality. Now that things are getting better, however, you can already see the rage building. It’s not supposed to be this way — therefore it can’t be this way. If, as now seems highly likely, Obamacare has more or less achieved its enrollment goals by 2015, and costs remain reasonable, that won’t be accepted — there will be furious claims that it’s all a lie.
(More here.)
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1 Comments:
It is interesting the Krugman uses the word 'lie' and it is not in reference to the 'incorrect promise' President Obama repeatedly used to help pass Obamacare. I wish Krugman would comment on Senator Reid, a leading proponent of Obamacare, now excusing some of his staff from Obamacare. This is an unacceptable reality indeed.
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