Ben Harakel

Intro to Economics

Obamacare

Has Our Country Forgotten the 4 Promises Of Obamacare?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2013/03/24/obamas-promises-unravel-on-obama-care/

When Barack Obama began his campaign to pass the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) he promised us four things

1.If you like your insurance you can keep it.

2. If you like your doctor you can keep him/her.

3. Obamacare will cost less than 1 trillion in its first ten years.

4. Obamacare will not add to the deficit.

After all the support that Obamacare has gotten, how has it held up to the four basic promises that it made to Americans.Lets begin with the first of the four promises: You can keep your healthcare if you like it. If you are an employee of a company with more than 50 employees that work more than 30 hours and you are one of those 50+ employees, your employer must provide you with healthcare. However if the healthcare that you have been using is not one of the plans that your employer chooses to provide then you cannot continue using it. Many of the plans that you will be forced to use will not have all the benefits of your old plan. Why is it that hardworking Americans are being punished for having a good job and good healthcare? Once again Obamacare is attacking the wrong members of society and by putting the costs of healthcare on businesses those businesses are in turn pushing that off onto the working class.

The next of the promises, You can keep your doctor if you want to, is also false advertising by Obamacare. The Obama administration estimates that 15% of all Part A medical providers will become "unprofitable" and will in turn stop participating in Obamacare. If you have one of these providers, as they start to lose money they will drop the amount of  reimbursement they give to doctors and in turn those doctors might not accept your insurance. Thus you will not be able to keep your doctor. Another survey by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions found that due to Obamacare 62% of physicians will retire early than they planned due to a lack of funds. Again Obamacare is hurting the wrong people, in this case doctors, who have worked their whole lives to become prosperous and now will cut their time short. I happen to have a very good relationship with my personal physician and I can see him being one of the people that will probably fall victim to this law. For older doctors it can't be logical to stay in business when you are not earning what you used to especially when you could retire right now if you wanted to.

The final two promises can be rolled up into one big problem because the one disproves the other. Obamacare is estimated to cost the United States a total of $1.9 trillion with only $624 billion coming in from penalties and taxes. Any math student can figure out that $1.9 trillion minus $624 billion is not less than $1 trillion. The fact that this is over budget means that  the plan to reduce payments to Medicare and Medicaid will only bring the excess $1.3 trillion down to about  $633 billion which will be added to the deficit, thus cancelling the 4th promise.

Now, my question to everyone is how can people continue to praise a law that has failed to stand by its basic promises to the people? That's like the government saying that it will pave roads if we pay taxes on gas and then when we do they decide not to pave the roads. How much longer will it take for people to realize that even if you have insurance, Obamacare will affect you? Maybe its just me but I don't really want to have to give up the good healthcare my family has because people decided to buy into the hoopla that was promised to us at the beginning. It's time to wake up. 

 

Should Congress Be Exempt From Obamacare?

Ben Harakel

Intro to Economics 

Obamacare

Should Congress Be Exempt From Obamacare?

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/358550/congresss-exemption-obamacare-john-fund

The partisan fight within the Senate has been getting more and more tense because of the new bill David Vitter has demanded a vote on. His bill would make sure that Congressmen would not be able to exempt out of the Obamacare bill. To me this is where the whole problem begins. Why is it that Congress was even allowed to exempt themselves from the laws they make in the first place? Laws apply to everyone not just us that are considered common people. This also brings into question how much confidence Congress has in Obamacare. If the ones who make the laws don't want to stand by them, why should I have to? The congressmen want so badly to keep their exempt status that Democrats have started their own bill that would deny the subsidies that Congressmen get for their healthcare to anyone who votes for Vitter's bill. Another bill would try to "bar any lawmaker or aide found by a congressional ethics committee to have engaged in the solicitation of prostitution". This is obviously pointed towards Vitter who was involved with a high end prostitution ring back in 2007.  Is this really how our nation is being run? The fact that lawmakers, especially some Senate democrats, would turn to blackmail to try to stop their efforts from being thwarted. Are these people really who we want guiding our country? Now I understand what Vitter did was wrong but still, this sounds like something petty teenagers would do, not Congressmen that run our country.

The exemption isn't the only flawed piece of Obamacare. The biggest economic problem with it right now is the creation of the 29 hour work week. Employers are becoming creative and dodging the part of the act that says that they must provide healthcare for any employee who works more than 30 hours (deemed full time). The act states that any business with more than 50 employees who work at least 30 hours must provide healthcare for those employees. I can't imagine that this is helping any recent college graduate or any younger member of society trying to work to pay for college. Not that most high schooler’s, or college grads need healthcare right away, because they can stay on their parent's until they are 26, but it hurts the amount of money they can make. The members of Congress in my opinion should make the effort to help businesses so that they in turn can help their employees. Take away the part mentioned above and I can almost guarantee that companies would increase employee's hours.

I find the lack of cooperation in Congress to be very disturbing. I'm not saying that Republicans are always right but in this case Vitter's bill makes sense. What’s good for us is good for you. If I have to follow the laws you make, you should have to follow them too.

Ben Harakel

 

Intro to Economics

 

Obamacare

Women Should Pay More for Health Care

http://ideas.time.com/2013/08/23/women-should-pay-more-for-health-care/

This article discussed the fairness of Obamacare's targeting of younger men and the fact that younger men have to pay the same premiums as young women. While it is common knowledge that younger women require more health care because of birthing costs and the stress on their generally smaller bodies, I have to say that it is a better idea to charge women more. To start it would discourage having a baby with a man that you aren't married to because if he leaves, you will get stuck with a high amount of cost. I can see some of you asking why it is that women should be stuck with all the costs of childbearing so her is my solution. If you happen to have Obamacare, are having a child, and are married to the father of the child then the costs should be split between the two. That way if you are married the costs will split evenly but if aren't it will serve as a deterrent.

The other big thing that I think is key about this article is the fact that females tend to spend a lot more money on preventative coverage, whether or not they have healthcare. It brings to mind the fact that the cost of something is what you give up to get it. In this case if males really don't use that much preventative care normally, why would they pay money for it. For me this is why I believe that Obamacare is not a good idea for our country. Why would a government health care system target certain age and gender groups if its goal is just to provide health care for all people. Why charge males the same as females when females will spend more money on healthcare.