Obamacare 101!
Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP, MACE
I hope it is common knowledge that President Obama and his administration lie about the success of Obamacare.
The traditional media and especially the New York
Times simply regurgitates these absurd lies as published in the Obama administration’s press releases.
I have many smart, sophisticated friends who are physicians, lawyers, engineers and business professionals whose only source of the news is the New York Times.
They honestly believe that FOX news and the Wall Street Journal are entertainment vehicles of right wing conservatives. They think these organizations do not publish real news.
It is what the Obama administration and the New York Times told them.
FOX news and the Wall Street Journal get closer to the truth than the New York Times. They cover important stories of the day while many of the stories are not even mentioned in the traditional media.
The New York Times used to be my only source of news. One day I realized the bias in almost every story in both the news and on the editorial pages.
I have been a critic of Obamacare from the beginning. It has been my opinion that Obamacare could not work. I have even suspected that President Obama wants to destroy medical care in America with Obamacare.
The construction of a massive bureaucracy to redistribute wealth for the benefit of the poor has not worked in the past because corruption, inefficiency and errors are usually built into the development of massive government bureaucracies.
Our federal government has never produced a well-oiled business devoid of inefficiency and corruption. Two recent examples are the TSA and the VA.
As medical care becomes more complex and as President Obama tries to control medical care the ability to develop a well-oiled machine becomes more elusive.
He does not understand that you cannot legislate morality especially by executive order. The bureaucracy and regulations make no sense to people he is trying to force to comply.
Government should be for the people and by the people. You have to provide incentive for people to enthusiastically operate within the systems created and encourage them to improve and take responsibility to improve the systems.
I have also presented my views on the value of the constitution and the freedoms we as Americans have under the constitution.
No one should be immune the law or the values of our constitution. President Obama and his administration are trying to force his ideology on the American people and trying to control our thinking by restricting our freedoms.
Many Americans do not pay attention to what is happening until it starts happening to them. Sometimes it is too late to change horrible laws and regulations.
Last week I received a note from a reader. The subject of the email said MANDATORY!
It is a simple explanation of the mechanics of the system imposed on us by Obamacare for everyone to understand.
Maybe some of my sophisticated friends and colleagues will start understanding the danger of Obamacare and why it cannot work.
President Obama’s Personal Experience: Obamacare 101!
Only weeks after leaving office on January 20, 2017, former President Barack Obama discovers a leak under his sink, so he calls Troy the Plumber to come out and fix it.
Troy drives to President Obama’s new house, which is located in a very exclusive, gated community near Chicago where all the residents have a net income of way more than $250,000 per year.
Troy arrives and takes his tools into the house. He is led to the guest bathroom that contains the leaky pipe under the sink. Troy assesses the problem and tells President Obama that it’s an easy repair that will take less than 10 minutes. President Obama asks Troy how much it will cost. Troy checks his rate chart and says, “$9,500.”
“What? $9,500?” Obama asks, stunned, “But you said it’s an easy repair. Michelle will whip me if I pay a plumber that much!”
Troy says, “Yes, but what I do is charge those who make more than $250,000 per year a much higher amount so I can fix the plumbing of poorer people for free. This has always been my philosophy. As a matter of fact, I lobbied the Democrat Congress, who passed this philosophy into law. Now all plumbers must do business this way. It’s known as the ‘Affordable Plumbing Act of 2014’. I’m surprised you haven’t heard of it.”
In spite of that, Obama tells Troy there’s no way he’s paying that much for a small plumbing repair, so Troy leaves. Obama spends the next hour flipping through the phone book calling for another plumber, but he finds that all other plumbing businesses in the area have gone out of business. Not wanting to pay Troy ‘s price, Obama does nothing and the leak goes un-repaired for several more days. A week later the leak is so bad President Obama has had to put a bucket under the sink. Michelle is not happy as she has Oprah and guests arriving the next morning. The bucket fills up quickly and has to be emptied every hour, and there’s a risk the room will flood, so Obama calls Troy and pleads with him to return.
Troy goes back to President Obama’s house, looks at the leaky pipe, checks his new rate chart and says, “Let’s see, this will now cost you $21,000.”
President Obama quickly fires back, “What? A few days ago you told me it would cost $9,500!”
Troy explains, “Well, because of the ‘Affordable Plumbing Act,’ a lot of wealthier people are learning how to maintain and take care of their own plumbing, so there are fewer payers in the plumbing exchanges. As a result, the price I have to charge wealthy people like you keeps rising. Not only that, but for some reason the demand for plumbing work by those who get it for free has skyrocketed! There’s a long waiting list of those who need repairs, but the amount we get doesn’t cover our costs, especially paperwork and record keeping. This unfortunately has put a lot of my fellow plumbers out of business, they’re not being replaced, and nobody is going into the plumbing business because they know they can’t make any money at it.
I’m hurting too, all thanks to greedy rich people like you who won’t pay their ‘fair share’. On the other hand, why didn’t you buy plumbing insurance last December? If you had bought plumbing insurance available under the ‘Affordable Plumbing Act,’ all this would have been covered by your policy.”
“You mean I wouldn’t have to pay anything to have you fix my plumbing problem?” asks Obama.
“Well, not exactly,” replies Troy. “You would have had to buy the insurance before the deadline, which has passed now. And, because you’re rich, you would have had to pay $34,000 in premiums, which would have given you a ‘silver’ plan, and then, since this would have been your first repair, you would have to pay up to the $21,000 deductible, and anything over that would have a $7,500 co-pay, and then there’s the mandatory maintenance program, which is covered up to 17.5%, so there are some costs involved. Nothing is for free.”
“WHAT?” exclaims Obama. “Why so much for a puny sink leak?”
With a bland look, Troy replies, “Well, paperwork, mostly, like I said. And the internal cost of the program itself. You don’t think a program of this complexity and scope can run itself, do you? Besides, there are millions of folks with lower incomes than you, even many in the ‘middle class’, who qualify for subsidies that people like you must support. That’s why they call it the ‘Affordable Plumbing Act’! Only people who don’t make much money can afford it. If you want affordable plumbing, you’ll have to give away most of what you have accumulated and cut your and Michelle’s income by about 90%. Then you can qualify to GET your ‘Fair Share’ instead of GIVING it.”
“But who would pass a crazy act like the ‘Affordable Plumbing Act’?” exclaims the exasperated Obama.
After a sigh, Troy replies, “Congress… because they didn’t read it.”
I hope this simple example helps all those sophisticated New York Times readers understand the dangers of Obamacare more clearly.
The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone
