Obamacare, also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, has become the most contentious and fiercely debated law in recent history. It is also one of the most misunderstood pieces of legislation ever to be passed into law.
If you watch Fox News, then you have probably been informed that this law will cause massive unemployment and ensure our country’s fiscal demise. On the other hand, if you choose to receive your news from MSNBC, then you have probably heard that the PPACA will put an end to a draconian and inequitable health care system and that there may even be no net cost to the bill.
In spite of the debate raging on 24-hour news stations and inside the beltway, many Americans remain in the dark as to what exactly the provisions of the new health care law are and how they will affect them and their families.
One of the reasons so many Americans know so little about the new law is that it is extremely long —more than 900 pages — and extremely expansive, pertaining to almost every aspect of the medical and insurance industries. Included in the law’s provisions are the required coverage of individuals with pre-existing conditions, the establishment of state “insurance exchanges” and the legislation of government subsidies to pay for coverage for those who cannot afford it.
In addition to these provisions, perhaps the most hotly contested aspect of the bill comes in the form of the “individual mandate.” This part of the legislation requires almost all Americans to either purchase health insurance or pay a tax no larger than 2.5 percent of income or $695 for an individual and $2,085 for a family.
Many protesters of the PPACA have argued (correctly) that the individual mandate amounts to an unprecedented tax which requires for the first time in history that Americans purchase a commercial product. While this argument is very respectable, I personally support the individual mandate. I will explain why through personal anecdote.
During my sophomore year of college, some friends invited me to go skiing with them in Winter Park, Colo. I do not know how to ski. To make a very short story even shorter, at some time during our first run I hit an icy patch of snow and fell, shattering my left elbow. Despite the fact that I had no insurance, I went to the hospital and underwent a complicated five-hour surgery. The bill amounted to over $50,000. There was no way I would ever be able to pay off this gargantuan debt. Luckily, I didn’t have to.
My bill was significantly reduced, and, although I still have a hefty debt, all in all about 40,000 dollars’ worth of medical bills was simply wiped away. Who footed the bill for my egregiously stupid decision to go skiing without any health insurance? The answer is American taxpayers just like you (or more likely your parents.)
The fact is that although many Americans are uninsured, many of them still have access to health care, and the part of the health care system they interface with, the emergency room, is probably the most expensive part. We have decided as a society that everyone should have access to basic medical care in an emergency; what we have not decided on, prior to this new law, is who should pay for that care. The individual mandate amounts to a major change to the American “social contract,” but it is a change that is highly needed.
Orion Wilcox is a senior economics major from Bay St. Louis.
