why we need single payer universal health care despite the AFA

SALLIE ROYSE COOPER·TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2016

the AFA (affordable care act) is not sufficient for the majority of americans who have been forced to buy into it (or face huge penalties) and no matter how you "tweak" it, it still plays into huge profits for the insurance industry.

here is the reality.

employers are dropping their employee coverage and forcing their employees to buy into the AFA. this is happening everywhere and costing these employees more than they were paying prior. example: i have a friend who will now be forced to pay $100 more per month than she did and in return gets less coverage.

insurance companies are still controlling who you see and how much you pay. example: my sister lost her insurance so chose an “affordable” policy under the AFA. she was thrilled to have “affordable” insurance until she found out that no one in her area would accept it. no doctor, no hospital. so she has insurance but cannot find a place who accepts it because every doctor, clinic and hospital in her city is tied into United Health Care.

people are forced to buy in the AFA only to find the insurance they need is NOT affordable even if the premium is. you see, while the premium may be cost effective, the coverage is not. people are finding out that with the huge deductibles they can’t afford medical care and that it’s costing them a lot more in the long run than what they had prior. in fact, it’s costing them their health.

so far the only ones i’ve seen personally who have truly benefitted from the AFA are those of very low income who qualify for free extensive coverage through medicaid. in ohio medicaid provides several insurances for those people at no cost with excellent coverage. and this is only because Gov. Kasich agreed to expand medicaid. (not a fan of his, but this is one truly good thing he did for ohio’s low income people.)

with the AFA what we have is a health care system still governed by the insurance companies, i.e. , corporations making big profits. unfortunately this is how money in politics works and why Bernie Sanders is so opposed to corporate campaign funding and why he and anyone with common sense would realize that we need a single payer health care plan that works for everyone. so far the only ones who have good, dependable ad affordable coverage are those on medicare or medicaid. yes, the AFA made insurance available to those who otherwise may not have had that option before, BUT it did not make healthcare affordable to the majority of americans. the name “Afforodable Care Act” is rather oxymoronic.