I’m making myself crazy – I’ve been following the daily media coverage of the Affordable Care Act and I just can’t stop. It’s like a bad accident. I shouldn’t look, because it’s awful and messy and gruesome and I really do just want to drive by and get out of the way, but then at the last minute I look over and I get freaked out.
As a lay expert on the new healthcare law, I understand that just about every “news” story about cancelled policies and the president lying is all slanted towards better ratings and purposefully misleading the public so that people will reject the law. I may understand this, but that’s no comfort when so many people around me are getting themselves worked up over the spin. Some people believe it. That’s what freaks me out more than anything. I shouldn’t look, because I know it will pass soon enough, but I just can’t help myself and I look.
Case in point – after a long board meeting last night I got home and my husband started hitting me with questions about cancelled policies. Apparently a friend of his was very upset that his insurance policy had been cancelled all because of Obamacare. That got my husband thinking, too, which left him with doubts about the law. He too, should have driven by the accident. He should have kept on going, but instead, he STOPPED. He did more than look. He got out and talked to people. I did my best to answer his questions last night, but I had had it up to my eyeballs with stupid questions, having just come from a a neighborhood council meeting. Plus I was hungry. And tired. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with insurance company/media/Republican b.s. so I ate and went to bed.
Cancellation notices are nothing new. Insurance companies send them out all the time. If people would take the time to read the fine print, seek out reputable news coverage, and talk to smart people who know about the law, they’d understand that their current coverage wasn’t what they thought it was and that new consumer protections are in place now to keep them from being ripped off by their insurance companies with junk policies, weak coverage, and over priced premiums. After the accident is cleared and the traffic jam subsides, they’ll relax and be more than satisfied. Once the Affordable Care Act takes hold and people realize how good it is, they won’t ever want to let it go.
That’s precisely what the Republicans are most worried about. This is why they tried to repeal the law over 40 times and it is why they shut down the government. If it’s as bad as they claim it is, then why don’t they step back and let it fail?
Once the kinks are worked out and January first comes and goes, Americans will realize that they have been lied to, again, and will conclude on their own that Obamacare is a very good thing. Until then, we’ll all have to contend with those who are still listening to the hype, blaming Obama, and stupidly defending the status quo.
The Affordable Care Act is not perfect, but it’s a great start at putting the brakes on an out of control industry that values profit over human life. Hearts and minds will catch up, but unfortunately, not until they tire of being exploited and terrorized by the media and the GOP.
For Dia de los Muertos, I constructed this altar to honor those who have died at the hands of the greedy capitalist health insurance companies and to celebrate all that will die in this corrupt system, thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
Click here for my eulogy for the sleazy billionaire health insurance companies and the Republicans.
