A Signature Bill More X Marks the Spot Than John Hancock

For the past seven months I have been hearing about how great Obamacare is. When Nancy Pelosi told me I'd find out what was in it once it passed, I didn't think what I'd find was yet another reason to be called a racist, Islamaphobe, anti-semite, bigot, or sir. (Usually that was followed by, you're making a scene) When the American public is unanimous in their dislike for someone not named Fantasia Barino, you know you have a problem. And the problem was implementation. No one dislikes every American having health insurance but the bill they pass was garbage. It didn't address many problems our medical community is facing like too few medical schools that are prohibitively expensive, a lack of family med doctors because the pay is less than loan payments, a medicare/medicaid payment system that short-changes hospitals, and medical technology that costs more in the US than it does in other countries.

So for a trillion dollars we got a new government monolith that will join a long line of sacred cows that we're somehow never allowed to slaughter. If this was India it would make sense, but this is America, give me a big mac made of wasted defense spending patties now. What I don't understand is why we went nuclear first, and once that didn't get the job done, we came back with chains and knives. I say always go the cheapest route first. For instance, making it a bit easier for health insurers to operate nationally. Get rid of lists that require what is covered and let people choose a la carte. Me, I'm 26 years old and exercise, I basically need insurance to cover if I get hit my car, not if my kibbles and bits stop working. Let private industry take on the initial costs. If that doesn't work, move up the chain of ideas until you have no other option but a huge government intervention.

I for one, thought the health care bill should have been one line and doubled the number of medical schools in the US and subsidized all of them. Sure it would cost us a bit up front, but why not attack it from the supply side rather than the demand side. Instead, we dumped 34 million people on an already taxed medical system. And if I know anything about economics, which hopefully that paper on the wall means I do, increasing demand while maintaining supply will lead to an increase in price. That's what the CBO has finally admitted, or what anyone who reads something other than the NY Times already knew.

Now, I don't favor repealing the health care bill. You don't solve big government with more government, instead starve the beast. Deprive it of funding but at the same time come up with some new solutions. The health care bill isn't all bad, it was just poor implementation. Republicans need to realize health care is something Obama will work with them on and that the American people will want. (This is after jobs creation of course) Obamacare is dead and as far as signature policies go, Obama should start playing up the annual Easter egg roll a bit more.