November 19, 2013
The rollout of the national website for The Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare, has been off to a very rocky start. But the problems involved with it will be corrected and the Affordable care act will turn out to be a huge success in giving middle class, working class and poor Americans healthcare which is much more affordable and more efficient than their present plans .The United States economy has been burdened by a healthcare system which has gotten more and more fractured and broken down—-and we must work with President Obama to create affordable healthcare for all Americans , which is efficient at keeping them healthy. That is the only way we will be competitive overall with the other developed countries—since these other countries are ahead of us in providing affordable and effective health benefits for all of their citizens.
Most major changes such as Social Security and Medicare have been slow in getting started. THe software for the George W. Bush Administration`s Medicare Part D also started badly. Now the appropriate people have their prescription drug coverage and all is running smoothly. A federal website was not in the original plans for The Affordable Care Act. each state was expected to do their own until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that they did not have to. This software is handling a fantastic number of hit.
The rollout for the ACA (Obamacare) has been messy—but the model which it is based on —Romneycare–which Governor Mitt Romney instituted for his state of Massachusetts—started out very slowly and messy. At the beginning the opposition created a website , REPEAL ROMNEYCARE. COM.That website is now abandoned because Romney`s program now enjoys great popularity in Massachusetts. During the implementation of the initial phase of Romneycare, the program clearly had its issues. In January 2007, when Romney left office,Massachusetts residents began to sign up for their new health insurance policies. In the first month only 123 people signed up for Romneycare out if the entire state of Massachusetts There were definitely glitches along the way, but they kept plugging away and gradually the numbers began to rise and rise, and the program is now very popular in that state.
The difference between the Massachusetts model and the national model is that in the former there was not a political party and a major industry rooting for it to fail while in the latter the GOP and certain big corporate interests are putting big money in trying to make it fail.
Keep in mind that in both Kentucky and in California, states which set up their own healthcare websites, the exchanges are working very well in obtaining new applications and new customers enrolled for Obamacare. So I have strong hopes for the Affordable Care Act to be successful.
If the Democrats stand firm in backing President Obama on the Affordable Care Act and on other popular issues such as immigration reform and substantially raising the minimum wage, they will fare very well in the 2014 midterm elections. The Affordable Care Act is an important start to creating a healthy and more productive America—and I hope that it eventually leads to single payer healthcare, like many other developed countries have.The VA and Medicare are examples of single payer.
ROBERT SULZER