Laws “so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood …” were cautioned against by President James Madison in Federalist Papers No.62. Considered the father of the Constitution and the author of the Bill of Rights, he added “if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today can guess what it will be tomorrow.” How prophetic.
Democrats, with their fascination for “comprehensive” programs, again overreached with the complex Affordable Care Act (ACA), more commonly known as ObamaCare. The result was a 2700-page bill nobody read that now has over 10,000 pages of accompanying regulations, said to be eight times the number of pages in the Gutenberg Bible.
I wonder, how many Americans realize that even the student loan program became part of the “comprehensive” health reform bill in 2010 and that there’s $100 billion in discretionary spending in the ACA budget. More than a $1 billion has been spent on the troubled-plagued website and other implantation costs. Billions have gone to unions and other groups to pay for navigators to aid in ACA enrollments. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the costs to the IRS of implementing eligibility, documentation and verification processes for subsidies could reach $10 billion.
The ill-advised development of the ACA has gone beyond the humor of Otto von Bismarck’s often quoted statement, “Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.” After a series of broken promises, changes, waivers and delays, Americans have discovered the government’s “ten essentials” of coverage includes maternity and pediatric care. And they are experiencing sticker shock over high premiums and deductibles.
With all the controversy over the fumbled Affordable Care Act website and the citizen testimonials of their enrollment experiences, good and bad, the president kicked off a 21-day campaign-style series of appearances that also fizzled. And he continues to blame GOP opposition and even Fox News for its unpopularity.
Jumping on the “blame Republicans” bandwagon recently was Robert Brischetto, former director of the Southwest Voter Research Institute, who believes “health care should be a public good available to all,” however, he fails to realize that most people not qualified to receive a subsidy simply cannot afford the premiums and deductibles of ACA
Coverage for qualified individuals will cost taxpayers $1 trillion in subsidies; nearly half of the $2.6 trillion now estimated cost of ACA over the next 10 years. Under the president’s redistribution of wealth scheme, subsidies will be paid for with lower Medicare reimbursements to hospitals and insurers, added taxes on medical device makers and drug companies, and a tax increase on the wealthiest of Americans. In the end, patients will suffer.
Lost in all of the rhetoric is the fact that ACA is about health insurance, not health care, and the mistaken belief that it needed a massive overhaul. Prior to the passage of ACA, some 85 per cent of Americans had health insurance and were satisfied with it. And those who didn’t have insurance were still treated by law.
Despite the positive spin about ACA enrollments coming out of the White House, the numbers of uninsured continue to climb and more people will see their care turned upside down in the months ahead.
Meanwhile, Democrats are already planning another “comprehensive” bill addressing immigration. Who knows how voluminous that will be, but surely amnesty will be included and the GOP will be labeled as obstructionists.
