The Truth About Obamacare, Somewhere in Between

HUMAN BEINGS BY NATURE try to use whatever tools are available to win an argument, the most popular tool being the fine art of exagerration. It isn't enough to honestly state the facts which support our point of view; we must embellish, and magnify to get our point across; the facts alone may not sustain us. Thus it is in the battle of Obamacare. According to the opponents of Obamacare, the end of the world is at hand, all because of a little socialized health care, which really isn't a very strong brand of socialism. Once again, it is difficult to see how President Obama could possibly have not known in advance that millions of Americans would lose their health insurance. Now that they have, the president acts for all the world as if a few quick adjustments, and the problem will go away. Just an unfortunate bureaucratic mix up, but he'll get it all straightened out now, and all will be well. Well, whatever, Mr. President. Meanwhile, according to the most strident, exagerrating oppononts of all things Obamac, the sky is falling, the entire Obamacare program is a complete disaster, and must be destroyed immediately, if not sooner. As always, the truth lies somewhere in between. Bill Clinton got it right when he said the federal government should make good on its promise to cover all Americans, and to make things right for the four million who have or will soon lose their insurance, even if that means changing the law now, at this late date, after the program has already gone into effect. Nobody had to be canceled. The corporations who control the insurance industry could very well have simply upgraded their policies for those they chose to cancel, in order to comply with the new minimum reqirements, but they chose not to; profit is more important than good service to customers. Obama, or somebody working for him, should have seen this coming. Now that it has come, they should work with their opponents in congress to change the law, to at least postpone the new requirements from taking effect. Perhaps the most outlandish outright lie told by Obamacare's opponents is that the best healthcare system in the world is being destroyed. Whatever and wherever the best system in the world is, it isn't one in which twenty precent of the population is left uninsured. But of course, those are the twenty precent, the very poor, who are the least important people to the opponents of socialized health care. Whether obamacare is the answer, something badly needed to be done about health care in America. Now is the time for action, not more promises.