My New Rule On Obamacare
Spurred by comments to my last post on the troubles with America’s health care system, I have devised a new rule:
If you devote more time to bitching about Obamacare than you do proposing solutions, you are not worth listening to.
I’ve had too many people react to the mention of “Obamacare” as though it were a cross and they were a snarling vampire. And they then proceed to treat my mildly positive mention of Obamacare as though I’d embraced it like it was my personal savior, telling me how foolish I am for trusting it.
But I don’t trust it. I merely think that it has the potential – not “is,” mind you, just “has the potential” – to be slightly better than the terminally fucked system we have now. And when you spend all of your time telling me how stupid and dumb this attempt is, and how we’re all idiots for buying into it, I feel you at least owe me, say, a sentence on what you’d think would work better.
Not “best.” There is no optimal solution for healthcare. Some people are going to get fucked no matter what we do. And we may well disagree on what’ll fix it, but I’ll at least give you credit for proposing a solution.
Yet if the best you can do is go OBAMACARE IS BAD IT’S AWFUL IT’S TERRIBLE IT’S HORRIBLE, then you’re the guy standing next to the captain of the Titanic, shouting “IT’S GOING DOWN!” and not offering to help people into lifeboats. If things are this bad, then please. Propose solutions. Give me alternatives. Show me that you have done something more with your life than demonizing the plan that made it through our legal system, and have devoted a few brain cells to going, “Wow, this system is complex, how could we better improve things?”
Otherwise? You’re not attempting to improve things; you’re gloating. And fuck you for doing that when there’s so much at stake.
OK, I’ll bite. Single payer, which works fine in Canada, which Vermont is starting to implement, and which a few other US states are now looking at adopting. My problem with Obamacare is that it’s a Frankenstein monster that puts the current for-profit system on life support, essentially guaranteeing it a captive market in return for increased regulation.
There are few arguments to be made against single payer that aren’t some variation of “taxes are evil, greed is good, and I refuse to help pay for our common well-being”. One of the better ones is that it’s vulnerable to subsequent underfunding, which is why some parts of Canada have long wait times for care.