By Harry C. Alford
NNPA Columnist
“Oh, what wicked webs they weave.” The Affordable Care Act, a/k/a Obamacare, is starting to raise its ugly head. Many of us think the concept is dangerous and costly. What is evolving is that it is the worst thing to ever happen to the U.S. economy. Right now this is clear: The federal government has taken over our healthcare industry. It has taken it over without any expertise or clear strategy. Almost daily new horrors are popping up. My brothers and sisters, we are about to emulate Sweden and Canada. Socialized medicine is coming to America.
According to Steve Forbes, it will add $200 billion per year to our deficit. That is $2 trillion in 10 years. Unlike Sweden and Canada, where they tax their people at rates exceeding 50 percent, our government is going to fine us and assess fees like never before. Governments cannot effectively run a healthcare system and, most of all, it violates our principles of capitalism and free enterprise. This belongs in China, Russia or any other nation that still clings to a proven failed system – socialism.
How did we come to this?
It was “Romance.” The naïve thought finally we are going to fix our healthcare system. We are going to make it affordable and everyone will have low-cost insurance that even allows pre-existing conditions. “We first need to pass the bill and then we go back and read it,” said former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Yes, they were just that dumb about the whole thing. The recession, stimulus and other issues clouded our minds and they bum rushed this macabre law through Congress and the White House signed it immediately.
Famous writer Richard Grant states, “Many proponents of ‘social justice’ are now shocked that the federal government would use the regulatory power granted to it in the Affordable Care Act to force all employers, including those with church affiliations, to offer health insurance that covers contraceptives and related services, all without co-pay. Suddenly we see people standing up with admonitions to the effect of, ‘When they came for the Catholics we did nothing because we were not…” Yes, this monster forces people to go against its personal religious principles. It is sacrilegious. It is the work of the Devil or Devils.
There is much hypocrisy to all of this. Many of those who have supported this calamity are seeking to avoid it personally. The administration is granting waivers. Their friends and campaign donors are being allowed to become exempt from Obamacare. If we fail to act as commanded (enter into the system), we will be coerced into the system. The “individual mandate,” which forces people to buy health insurance or pay a fine, is an integral part of this recent healthcare reform act. Businesses with more than 30 employees will have to buy insurance for their employees. However, many unions and major corporations such as McDonalds are being granted these waivers. Twenty percent of all the waivers granted so far were given to restaurants, boutiques, hotels, etc. located in the congressional district of Nancy Pelosi. Virtually all the businesses in her district are exempt from the bill she so desperately fought to get passed. It is the epitome of hypocrisy! But yet it gets worse. There is a movement to exempt the entire Congress and their staffers from the law. These guys pushed this poison on us and now they want a big giant waiver for themselves.
While other congressional supporters of this law work behind the scenes to get around the very bill they claimed to be so good, others are starting to speak out. Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee and a “quarterback” that led the law through the Senate, now laments to Kathleen Sibelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services (in charge of implementing the law), “I am very concerned that not enough is being done so far – very concerned. When I’m home, small businesses have no idea what to do, what to expect, they don’t know what affordability rules are, they don’t know what penalties may apply… A lot of people have no idea about all of this… I just see a huge train wreck coming down, and you and I have discussed this many times and I don’t see any results yet.” Senator Baucus then announced to the press that after 32 years in the Senate he will not run for re-election next year. He feels his active support of Obamacare will cause his constituents to vote him out.
Companies that will be forced to buy insurance for its employees will make hard decisions. They can reduce their employee workforce to below the 30 employee threshold. They can move out of the country and they could stall expansion plans. All this leads to more unemployment.
GOD SAVE US FROM OBAMACARE.
Harry C. Alford is the co-founder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Website: www.nationalbcc.org. Email: halford@nationalbcc.org.