Contraception Coverage - ObamaCare

Through all the rhetoric, I think we've totally missed the point!!

I don't think anyone disagrees that everyone should have access to reasonably priced health insurance.

The first place we have a difference of opinion is in the definition of "everyone".  Some would include all US citizens as "everyone" while others would define "everyone" as those who had a job and could afford to pay for their own "affordable health insurance".  We'll leave that debate for another post.

Fundamentally, what the government is trying to do is establish the minimum standards for health insurance that is to be "affordable".  Of course, we can get affordable insurance via the unrestrained free market, but what will the level of coverage be?

Before the dreaded ObamaCare, if you didn't have a job that provided health insurance and you weren't poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, you were out of luck.  Either you couldn't afford the insurance premiums or you were denied coverage because of some pre-existing condition.  How do we get the free market system engaged to solve that problem?  Perhaps we allow insurance companies to compete across state lines?  However we do it, one thing is for sure: The free markets will produce a glut of insurance products that are definitely affordable, but only to the insurance issuing agency.  Coverage will be gerrymandered to minimize the payout/premium ratio.  That's how it works folks.  Corporations (including health care corporations) exist to make money.

What gets lost in the high-profile debate between the Government and the Catholic Church is that the Government is merely trying to establish a baseline for reasonable coverage that we want to get at a reasonable cost.  Yes, there are sticky situations such as the inclusion of contraception in the baseline, but the important issue is that the administration is attempting to establish a baseline at all.

Regardless of what you may think from the above, I fully support the repeal of ObamaCare.  But I support it for a completely different reason than the talking head Republicans who are delighting the President every time they make a public statement.  I support a repeal because I do not believe ObamaCare went far enough.  The free markets can deliver neither affordable health care nor affordable health insurance.  The objectives of free markets are at odds with the objectives of health care.  There needs to be some middle ground; managed and funded by a central agency that budgets what this country can afford to spend on health care.  Otherwise, we have health care for the rich and nothing for the not-so-rich.

If you know me you won't be surprised.  Let's all work toward a Single Payer system for universal, affordable healthcare for everyone.