Craziest like a fox

Last updated on: October 5, 2016 at 9:19 am by Dave Griffey

Craziest like a fox 2016-10-05T07:21:26-04:00 Dave Griffey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

So the news is abuzz about Bill Clinton calling the Affordable Care Act ‘the craziest thing in the world.’ Don’t for a minute think that Bill has gone overboard or off his rocker. The next step will be towards a more socialized model than Obamacare. Obamacare would be the first step. But it isn’t as if they’ll look for some other, private sector based solution to remedy the flaws of the current system. Those conservatives who are cheering Clinton’s words should take a breather, since this will likely be grounds for moving the system farther away from where conservatives would ever want it to be.

At least, however, he’s pointed out the obvious. My Mom was one who, according to the literature she received from her healthcare company, took a beating due to Obama’s legislation. Her coverage is through the pension plan my Dad received, and she still has it even after he passed away. For the longest time her out of pocket expenses were easy to calculate: there were none. A year after Obamacare, however, she received forms explaining that as a direct result of the legislation, she would see changes in her coverage and out of pocket expenses. True, they weren’t massive. But for an elderly woman living on a fixed income, they were bad enough.

Since its passage, when I have mentioned this, I’ve been met with either dismissive responses or outright put downs. More than once, even on Catholics sites, I was told some variation of ‘serves her right’ since she apparently was part of some vaguely defined elite who finally got what she had coming. While people oppressed by the system she and my Dad fed into struggled in poverty and fear, the playing fields were now being balanced. Those were the worst responses I received. Admittedly, most simply ignored the fact that I pointed out not everyone has benefited from Obamacare.

The worst part of Obamacare, in my view, was that it didn’t fix the ultimate problem with health insurance. The biggest problem with health insurance isn’t those who don’t have it or can’t afford it. The biggest problem is that apart from a few gold standard plans that only the wealthiest can afford, the increasing out of pocket expenses make insurance almost pointless to have. Most plans today have out of pocket limits in the thousands. For folks who can’t afford any better, they can’t afford that level of out of pocket expense. If you can’t afford a plan that doesn’t have a 5000.00 deductible, for instance, you can’t afford a 5000.00 deductible.

Even Obamcare’s supporters admit that Obamcare more or less follows the same thinking. The cheaper options aren’t that good, but if you get better plans, then the out of pocket expenses aren’t so bad. I have no clue if there are options that have no out of pocket expense. I just know that is the main problem. People I’ve worked with over the years have said that is their biggest problem. They pay for insurance, but unless they end up having major surgery some time in the year, the policy ends up paying nothing and they’re out thousands of dollars. Plus the ever increasing premiums. And for those who can’t afford any better, they can’t afford that much. That’s something that, according to Obamacare’s supporters, the legislation didn’t fix. It simply moved it from the private sector to the government.

Whether that issue will be addressed as Clinton attempts to move things forward remains to be seen. That’s why I cautioned Catholics who try to justify supporting candidates who advocate for sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance to make sure they’re not equating a policy or plan with a sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance. Purposely trying to keep people in poverty, or denying them healthcare, or starving people is bad. Got it. But be careful that those you accuse are actually trying to do this. Make sure they simply don’t have conflicting ideas for how to solve a problem. Especially if you decide you’ll support those who do advocate an intrinsic evil – like abortion – only to wind up supporting ideas that ultimately do no better for people than the other side’s plans would have done, plus the intrinsic evil. If your only excuse for doing so is ‘those people are nasty evil types, even if they don’t actually advocate for grave evils’, then you might want to check your priority set and try again.

Christianity and America

Christianity in the world

News

Previous Post

October 5, 2016

The Futility of voting for Trump

Next Post

October 5, 2016 Good for him

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Atheism Awesome things Bigotry for the hip American Blogging Books Catholic Catholic Teaching Catholics on the Internet Christian Persecution Christian Unity Christianity and America Christianity in the Post-Modern World Christianity in the world Culture of Death Culture of Life Current Events Decline and Fall of the Christian West Defending Liberty Fun Stuff Global Warming Good Causes Good News Gun Control Health Care History Holidays Homeschool Humor Important things Inspiring Stories Interesting Insights Interesting Stories Islam and the West Liberal "Tolerance" Liberal observations Life in a post-Christian world Memorial Movies Musings News Other Blogs Our Big Politically Correct Bother Politics Popular Culture Post Modern Values Prayers Pro Life Promoting LGBT Protecting Liberty Racism in the world today Scientism Social Observations Sports Strange Stories The Boys The Catholic Church and the Left The Decline and Fall of the American Dream The end of liberty The Faith and the Left The Faith and the Right The Family The Greatness of God The Internet The Leftist Juggernaut The LGBT Question The Media The Pope The post-liberal Left The Power of Propaganda Tributes Twilight of the American Experiment Uncategorized Uneducating Postmoderns When the Church is wrong Why learn from history when we can repeat it instead Wisdom in the Post Modern Age World Events

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What city did Paul write his first letter to the Corinthians from?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Corinth Rome Athens Ephesus