Obamacare

The other day I received a check in the mail from my old health insurance company.  During a period between transitioning from my day job to a full time writer, I purchased my own health insurance.  It was not a pleasant expenditure.  The monthly premiums was doable, but the coverage was only decent and fatefully, I needed some rather expensive sick care during that time.  I ended up paying a lot of money out of pocket - basically the maximum one could pay for a year - and it was during a time where I wasn't making much money, nor did I have much job security.  It was a shitty situation, but I dealt with it.  I knew it was for a transition period.

Well, the other day, a check in the mail came for $1.83.  Yes, that figure is correct.  $1.83.  It explained in the cover letter that due to Obamacare, I was entitled to a refund from my health insurance company. 2 years after the fact.  The postage stamp, paper, and ink (not to mention the labor cost) of issuing the refund was more costly than the refund itself.

This is my impression of Obamacare.  Impotence and stupidity.

I will grant the fact that probably 30 million working poor will get health insurance through Obamacare paid for by the upper 10%.  I think that's all it boils down to.  It is a simple redistributive choice.  The cost curve will not be bent due to Obamacare - it will get bent through new technologies or better business practices - but not by tossing more people into the mix.

Maybe this is the right choice for America - maybe in a country with as much wealth at the top as ours - we should fund the working poor's health insurance.  But what I find truly disingenuous is the argument Obamacare is meant to help the working class or will improve the cost of the overall healthcare system.