The health care debate has been raging in this country for years now. While some would like for the country to move on, I say more debate is needed. Recently, the debate has reasserted itself in Congress with the House voting to repeal it and Sen. Ted Cruz speaking about it for hours last night. The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, whatever you prefer, has lots of issues. While some issues are to be expected when you have a bill that is as long as it is, I have major problems with how it affects our generation and how the population feels about it.
This bill hurts our generation in quite a few ways. For starters, it makes us pay more for health care. Many people our age don’t need as much health care. The reason is simple: We don’t get sick as often so our plans have been less expensive. But the new law says that you cannot discriminate on age. This means we have to pay the same price as someone who will use twice as much as us. Also, the government is forcing us to pay for something we don’t always need or want. The real question to be asked in this debate is, who will be footing the bill for these changes? Our generation will be paying for this bill, along with many other problems with the current economy.
Secondly, people simply do not want these changes. Poll after poll has shown that voters overwhelmingly dislike the bill, and that has not changed over the years. Beyond individuals, even unions – the very forces that look out for individual workers – don’t want it.
Furthermore, Congress and the executive branch get a sweet deal that reduces their costs, even when they largely don’t even want it for themselves. Added on to that is the fact that the business community does not want it and indeed has gotten the administration to delay the forced buying for businesses. How can we have something like this that so many people do not want?
Criticism, however, is the easy part, and I don’t want to limit myself to just that. Yes, I realize health care is not perfect, and we need to do something. So I am calling for a complete free market plan while restructuring our already active health care assistance. Since I live in Alabama, I can only buy insurance from Alabama. What if I want a policy that covers more and I am willing to pay for it? Each state has different standards, which means that certain states – like California that has more requirements, making it more expensive – don’t face competition. By reducing state barriers, a market will be created for insurance. This can make the cost less because they will have to compete.
Obviously, this is not a holistic solution. Indeed, I realize that there will still be people who can’t afford it, and we need to restructure assistance programs for those who need it. Still, we have so many better ways to solve this problem than the Affordable Care Act. It does not solve the problem. We need a better program that solves more of the country’s problems without saddling our generation with the lion’s share of the bill.
Regan Williams is a senior majoring in communication studies and political science. His column runs biweekly on Thursdays.
