Obviously, the ACA and what to do about it, if anything, is a current hot topic and I know we have at least one resident that is probably keenly aware of any and all developments surrounding the ACA's repeal, modification, or replacement, currently called the "Affordable Health Care Act" or AHCA (or "Trumpcare" or "Don.T. Care"
), especially the individual mandate or lack thereof.
So I've done some reading about this topic quite a bit recently. One big takeaway is that I finally learned the real reason why Republicans hate the ACA and why they've been railing against it for all these years. It isn't just because of opposition to everything Obama did. It isn't just because Republicans think the private sector is always a better service provider than the government sector.
Basically, in addition to the actual health-related aspects of the ACA, the law is partially crafted as a veiled form of wealth redistribution. Obviously Republicans, the unabashed party of the wealthy, hate this. It's like the fog has been lifted and I see perfectly clearly now.
Now consider the AHCA, Paul Ryan and Donald Trump's replacement. It obviously has a lot of problems, but I'm not going to belabor that as the ACA certainly is no angel in that regard either. I'm sure Cobra loves the aspect of the fact that it removes the individual mandate from the ACA if nothing else.
That said, the AHCA is also a veiled wealth redistribution tool; however, in its case it redistributes wealth from the poor to the wealthy.I don't know what the answer is. Health care is a complex issue and both the ACA and AHCA have serious problems. That said, I think this is more evidence of exactly why you should never ever ever ever ever
ever vote Republican unless you are wealthy. Everything they do with regards to fiscal and economic policy - everything last thing! - is about increasing the wealth of people that are already incredibly wealthy.
