Should Obama care be repealed?

[luv2]

[h=1]another poll question?[/h]

[Flatline, BSN, RN]

This is way too narrow of a question that does not offer other options.

Repeal and replace? Repeal with no other option? Modify the existing law in place? Etc.

[TriciaJ, RN]

It didn't do what it was supposed to. I don't think "repeal" actually means to just scrap it. I believe the repeal process is just the necessary first step to get a workable (and hopefully actually affordable this time) health care plan. Fingers crossed.

[MrNurse(x2), ADN]

The hard part is that the ACA is bankrupting the working poor, something I read in the bill at inception (working nights gives you a lot of time).Did the previous system work? Not entirely. We need insurance reform, which, if you noticed, the insurance companies were very quiet during ACA implementation. They knew they were making bank. Non-exclusionary policies must be available, terms such as acceptable revenue loss and other hard terms for the insurance industry to stomach will have to be part of the conversation. Congress has, despite the rhetoric, looked out for investors interests too long, even such names as Sanders and Pelosi protect the rich and say a few things to make it look like they care for the poor. Handouts have never empowered any people, including health care, let's start helping people climb out of the abyss our welfare programs have created. Look at any aid relief program in third world nations. They go in and start educating immediately, giving them resources to do for themselves. This is what stops poverty, not coming in, setting up wells, irrigation and medical facilities then leaving a mess.

[AliNajaCat]

I challenge any of the above posters to describe one person they know well who has worked hard all his or her life and whose health has deteriorated over the last fifteen years since they saw a physician for lack of health insurance. I challenge them to describe an elderly person they know personally who would be on the streets or dead without the "handout" that is Social Security. I challenge them to describe what their life was like when they themselves had, say, a soft-tissue infection that went untreated for months because they couldn't afford self-pay without health insurance. I challenge you to describe the daily life of an accident victim whose money is gone and who sits right now in a darkened room in a third-rate SNF rotting away.

I assure you that I know all of those people personally, and have been among them myself. The first guy earned less than $24,000 last year; he is among the working poor but the health plan I got him into has subsidized ("handout?") premiums which have allowed him to have both medical and dental care for the first time in more than fifteen years. This, in turn, has not "bankrupted" him, but made it possible to keep working.

If you don't know these people or see them regularly in your work, you have no business whatsoever shooting off your mouth about what a "disaster" the Affordable Care Act is and how it hasn't done anything of substance. What was it supposed to do? What has it done? Dropped the uninsured rate to its lowest level EVER in this country. Dropped the childhood uninsured rate to less than 2%. Made it possible for millions and millions of people to be immunized, have cancer screens, get routine dental care, have reliable contraception, get medications for chronic conditions like diabetes, COPD, MS, CP, and others. And why do you think the insurance companies aren't screaming to make the ACA go away? Because they're making money, too.

OK, you want to wave a wand and make that all go away? Maybe it's easy for you to say that....because you don't know anybody for whom it has been life-saving. I do. Look around you, see those people you ignore on the streets or in your ERs or your children's school cafeteria. And tell them it's all gone. And you-- will you help them then?

[Flatline, BSN, RN]

SNIP

Whoa, someone missed their daily dose of Vitamin A.

What I think most everyone can agree on is that the ACA is not perfect but should not be completely repealed without a replacement or better yet amended to be better in some form.

Many of the people that post to this forum have come from poverty, some have family and friends still in poverty, time to get off the high horse. Keep in mind that you are speaking to a group of individuals who have literally dedicated their profession to saving and improving the lives of others.

EVERYONE can agree that there is an issue, what people are debating about is how we go about resolving that issue.

Keep in mind that reducing the uninsured rate does not necessarily equal quaity or access to care. Someone who could not afford insurance before certainly cannot afford the $7,500 deductible (my brother who is a lower middle class business owner) so how has his access to care been improved?

I personally believe ACA has helped the very poor BUT I also believe that it has hurt many middle class families. Not saying it should be removed but we can do better especially now that we have had time to read, review, and debate the law instead of being it being forced upon us like a rapist in the night.

[MrNurse(x2), ADN]

I challenge any of the above posters to describe one person they know well who has worked hard all his or her life and whose health has deteriorated over the last fifteen years since they saw a physician for lack of health insurance.

Smile much? Wow, you are an angry typer. I can literally smell the smoke from your keyboard. My statement acknowledged a verifiable fact that ACA has decimated the working poor. I also acknowledged that the previous system was lacking. I even gave an option. There are individual stories where some in the Nazi party did the right thing, did that make the Nazi party righteous? You don't seem to be able to view the overall effect of the ACA on the majority of the country. I have had patients NOT come to the ER for fear that not having insurance would have them facing an immediate fine for breaking the law. There are a lot of different stories out there. I identify as a conservative, yet my post actually protracts insurance companies liberties immensely. Find it amusing that the government mandates car insurance and regulates it better than the health insurance they mandated. This was an unread law passed too fast and real people were impacted. I think it had good intentions, but the outcome for many was disastrous. It needs to be reworked, plain and simple.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

The ACA is a complex structure with many different aspects... waay to complex for a dichotomous response.

The coverage for pre-existing health conditions has been an enormous benefit.... just ask anyone who has recovered from childhood cancer, anyone with a chronic disease or a Type 1 diabetic. Coverage for college-age children? Access to preventative care? Affordable insurance for low income families (AKA "working poor")?

Of course there are also some negatives - like the sharp escalation in premiums for middle income families, which seems to be the largest dissatisfier.

Anyone who thinks it is a simple "destroy & replace" process simply doesn't have a clue about how it all works. The promise of "Access" to healthcare is not the same as providing healthcare. Heck, I have "access" to luxury cars & mega-mansions.... but I sure can't afford them. I hope that the decisions will be made by knowledgeable people rather than partisan legislators who are more interested in dismantling and denigrating than improving the health of people they have sworn to serve.

[Extra Pickles]

another poll question?

Deciding to stay out of this discussion entirely, only wanted to comment how much I enjoyed Option #4, I do not read, I do not understand. Just remember that there are plenty of people who fall into the category of Option #4 who vote!

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

ACA is not perfect. However, it does offer some protections that were not available previously: pre-existing condition protection, college student coverage to name just a few. The old way didn't work; it needed to be fixed. At least the ACA was an attempt at that. Saying repeal or don't repeal isn't enough. The system is broken.

[klone, MSN, RN]

I agree with AliNajaCat.

Having worked for the largest safety net hospital network for several years in a large urban community with a disproportionate refugee population, I can say from firsthand experience that the ACA has been a G-DSEND for millions of people.

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

The Republicans have had 7 years to come up with an Obamacare replacement. They haven't. Why would they come up with one now?

Obamacare isn't perfect. Neither were Medicare or Social Security when they first passed. They were modified, not destroyed. Until very recently, they were untouchable.