Guess what’s coming

LARRY ANDERSON
Larry Anderson

The Affordable Care Act is the seminal law of the past decade and is the left’s cross to bear.

Obamacare was the liberals’ all-in. They knew if they were going to socialize health care in the United States, they had to do it when the Obama administration was young, when they had the votes in Congress, and when public opinion favored reform. The bill moved comparatively fast and passed with most not knowing what was in it. That was a calculated step on the part of the left.

Obamacare was about political triumph. The left’s progress toward a socialist state drove the measure far more than any genuine concern for people’s needs. I doubt the left today cares folks did not embrace the plan that was sold as their health care and financial salvation.

I think this because of how events unfolded then and how they continue to unfold. The major components within Obamacare could have been implemented step-by-step over time but weren‘t. For example, there wouldn’t have been much resistance to a stand-alone law forbidding insurance companies from denying coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions.

That component alone would have found support from the people as well as Congress. While it would have been expensive for insurance companies to absorb, over time companies and consumers would’ve adjusted economically. Then another reform could have been tackled.

That step-by-step option was too simple, too politically neutral, too small, and there would have been no socialist glory for Obama, Reid and Pelosi.

It was whole hog for the liberals.

Now we have a situation on our hands. The Dems have effectively shut down any reforms on the existing law from their end despite Obamacare’s many problems. Budging them is as likely as pushing Gibraltar aside with a garden tractor.

Reforms, if any, will have to come from Republicans. Big media and the left have made it seem that Republicans have dropped the ball despite the continuation of hard work. That is premature.

The Republicans’ position is far more tenable than the opposition would have us believe. Conservatives have a thin margin in the Senate and a president ready to sign a decent bill. Those Repubs balking at reforms can be brought around with the right corrections and enough carrots. A couple are merely jockeying for political position, favor back home, and notoriety. Once that’s pumped dry, they may want to dicker.

The Republicans have a year before failure begins to impact the next election, but no Republican wants to see a senatorial shift back to the left, not when the right holds as many cards as it does.

I believe corrective action will eventually happen, but if it doesn’t, the following will occur:

Obamacare will fail. There is little public support, and its cost is growing exponentially.

Obamacare’s failure will create a public response which the left will exploit. Obamacare’s demise won’t be because it was a lousy law from the beginning but because Republicans failed to reform liberals’ failure.

The left is expert at shifting blame. They are already at it.

Without healthcare reforms, Republicans could lose the Senate next year, thereby eliminating any chance of legislative reform from the right.

With Obamacare in its death throes, the left will push for single payer health coverage.

The left will talk much about how great single-payer will be just as they pointed out the wonders of Obamacare. Many of the fed-up will listen because they are sick of the whole mess and worn out trying to pay for it.

The chances of single-payer passing through Congress under those circumstances is substantial.

Within that scenario, health care will fall under government control completely. Eventually, if not initially, the government will determine the quality and quantity of health care you can have, how long you can have it, and everything else pertaining to it. Prepare for rationing and more federal input on how you conduct your life.

The left understands wholly a way of bringing a population under the socialist dome is through health care because so many things can be connected to it.

It was the avuncular Harry Reid who said famously, “We will have single payer.” There was no doubt in Harry’s liberal mind there would be a path.

This could be how the left will finally fulfill its socialist progression.

Larry W. Anderson is a retired educator, author and Bearcat.