And This Is Better?

Trey Smith

I had really hoped the conservative-leaning US Supreme Court would strike down Obama's Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) and, of course, for reasons I can't truly fathom, this didn't happen. Many of my progressive colleagues took me to task for my position and urged me to keep an open mind as the various aspects of the plan are implemented. You'll see, they said, it will turn out to be far better than you anticipate.

Well, I've come face-to-face with some of this vaunted implementation and, I've got to tell you, this so-called great plan is even worse than I imagined!

Because I'm on SSI, I receive Medicaid. Due to the Affordable Health Care Act, the services I receive will change dramatically as of September 1.

As Medicaid in my state has worked for several years, health care providers bill the state for approved services provided and then the state pays them. This is a clearcut system with no middleman. Because there is no middleman, it costs taxpayers less money.

But all this is changing. As of September 1, I must choose to enroll in a Managed Care Plan. Each of the four plans I can choose from are health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Utilizing taxpayer dollars, the state will pay for my premiums plus the costs of my medical care.

How does this lower costs and save taxpayer dollars?

The obvious answer is that it doesn't! It will cost taxpayers the same or MORE. Both possibilities are problematic. If it costs taxpayers the same amount of money, then it automatically means that I will receive less in services. Why? Because now a portion of the money paid by the state to the HMO will be kept by the HMO as profit. That means there will be less money available to pay for my medical care.

On the other hand, if the state decides to keep my level of services as is, it will cost more taxpayer dollars because, again, a portion of each payment will be retained by the HMO to generate their profit.

What the Affordable Health Care Act has done is to inject a middleman into the equation. In general, where a middleman exists, costs increase. So, how does this plan help anybody EXCEPT the health insurance industry? They seem to be the only ones coming out of this smelling like a rose...the very reason I adamantly was against this plan to begin with!