Content area
Full Text
I. Introduction
On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law ([33] US Government Printing Office, 2010). This was done on the grounds of spiraling expenditures and the challenge of 45.8 million Americans who were uninsured ([19] KaiserEDU.org, 2010). The new law aims to expand healthcare coverage to all citizens by mandating that health insurance[1] be purchased with the threat of a fine for noncompliance. It requires coverage at no extra charges of those with pre-existing conditions, eliminates caps on benefits, prohibits rescissions of insurance, and extends dependant coverage to 26 years of age. Obama healthonomics aims to lower costs of healthcare coverage by developing universal coverage documentation, simplifying administrative procedures, and capping non-medical expenses. Finally it aims to improve quality of care by creating programs for required counseling, developing community health teams, and expanding Medicare prescription drug plans. It does this through a number of revenue provisions, including tax increases, manufacturing and provider fees, and changes in income brackets ([5] DPC, 2011).
However, in this 2000 plus page compilation of regulations, compulsions, restrictions and subsidies, the new law fails to address the real problem with our healthcare industry. Rather than laying band-Aid on top of band-Aid, a system of better, broader, and cheaper healthcare can be attained through lessened regulations, restrictions, and subsidies - or rather none at all. When it comes to our nation's healthcare, privatization is our only hope for continued innovation, more coverage, and lower costs.
In Section II of this paper we attempt to address the real problem with our healthcare. The purpose of Section III is to discuss the ethical and economic problems with socialized medicine. We conclude in Section IV.
II. Identifying and fixing the real problem with our healthcare
Condemning ObamaCare does not imply support for the system we had before. The administration was correct in its acknowledgements that costs were too high and too many people were left uninsured. But with regard to the new law, not only do the negative consequences far outweigh the benefits; this new initiative goes in the very opposite direction from what is needed. If our house is to be set in order as far as health care is concerned, it is...