SCOTUS ruling misses real problem with Obamacare – the cost
Outfront Tonight: Party-time!
Both sides are officially spinning the Supreme Court's healthcare verdict. The president and other Democrats are all celebrating a legal victory in one of the closest-watched Supreme Court decisions in a decade, and the Republicans see it as a way to rally the base.
After all, everyone loves an underdog. They see it as hey, the Supreme Court failed to repeal what they see as a hated act, an overreach of big government, but if you elect Mitt Romney, he will slay the healthcare dragon!
So both sides were getting excited and partying it up, almost like guys at a bachelor party. The problem is, no one was a winner today. And soon, they will wake up, feeling pretty hungover.
In all seriousness, the point is this: we are all losers. Why? Because even if you love what this healthcare bill does – things like covering preexisting conditions – you have to hate what it does not do. It does not deal with surging health care costs in America.
We spend the most on healthcare per person than any country on earth, yet rank #27 on life expectancy.
It's true that more people are covered thanks to the Supreme Court ruling. That may be a great thing. But under the so-called "Affordable" Care Act, health care analyst Dan Ripp of the research firm Bradley Woods say premiums will still rise 7.5% a year. That's more than four times the inflation rate!
And the spending will only get worse. According to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, health spending in 2010 grew by just 3.9% over 2009. But in 2014, when the President's law takes full effect, spending will jump by 7.4%.
In a country with a rapidly aging population, that is not a reason to celebrate. That is a failure.
I don't care how it's paid for so long as they, whoever they are, leave us middle class, lower working class, and poor folks alone. We are sick and tired of bearing the brunt everytime the government says they have to pay for anything. We no longer accept that the best of care always going to the well off. We count and we matter just as much when it comes to our health. By the way, why are there so many doctors in congress? Does anyone else find that strange?