LETTER: Obamacare increasing too much cost
To the editor:
During the 2014 State of the Union Address, President Obama introduced a single mother by the name of Amanda Shelley. He told the story of how Amanda Shelley did not have insurance, but how the Affordable Care Act saved her from bankruptcy. The Affordable Care Act may have helped this individual in this circumstance, but it will not benefit Americans in general.
We know the Affordable Care Act will give low income families health coverage. It is important that everybody has proper health care, but the Affordable Care Act is not the right way to achieve this goal. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act has huge costs. It gives any person under 400 percent of the poverty line an opportunity to sign up for subsidized health insurance. Most people, including myself, grew up in families with this range of income and had very good health care during all stages of life. These subsidies are going to be a massive cost to the government, which will in turn increase taxes on all Americans.
Part of the Affordable Care Act plan will pay hospitals and doctors less while making them take on more patients. It is never good when somebody is paid less than what they are worth. When incentives are lowered, quality decreases. If professors here at USU had their compensation cut by 20 percent, we probably would not have the same level of professors as we do now.
Hospitals will not be as high-quality or progressive as they are now if there are budget cuts. America has led the world in medical studies and innovations in the last century. Incentives must stay high for our country to continue being a leader in medicine.
America has the best health care in the world right now. If you have ever talked to someone who has been in a hospital in another country, even developed countries, they will tell you the same thing. Massive health care reform was not necessary to fix what minor problems the American health care system had. The Affordable Care Act is simply increasing costs greatly for little return. It is hurting and will continue to hurt many Americans, businesses and the health care industry financially.
– Bryan Daines