Happy Anniversary ObamaCare-- Two Progressive Doctors Explain How To Make It Better

Friday was the second anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, which was demonized by the sociopaths on the right who called it, derisively, "Obamacare." Now they're stuck with the Romneycare nominee and everyone, including the White House, happily embraces the term Obamacare. As the Obama reelection campaign is happy to point out, "It’s the two-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. Since then, the law that almost everyone calls Obamacare has been doing exactly what the other side has hoped it wouldn’t do: It’s been working."

Obamacare means never having to worry about getting sick and running up against a lifetime cap on insurance coverage. It gives parents the comfort of knowing their kids can stay on their insurance until they're 26, and that a "pre-existing condition" like an ear infection will never compromise their child's coverage.

It's about ending the practice of letting insurance companies charge women 50 percent more-- just because they're women.

And Obamacare can save seniors hundreds of dollars a year on prescription drugs-- and gives them access to preventive care that is saving their lives.

President Obama never lost sight of the fact that this reform is about people. People like his own mother, who spent the last years of her life fighting cancer-- and fighting with insurance companies, too.

That shouldn't happen. And because of Obamacare, it can't.

So next time you hear someone railing against Obamacare, remember what they're actually saying they want to take away.

And, today, stand with me in saying, "Hell yeah, I'm for Obamacare"

Despite the full-throttle self-delusion you hear from the sociopaths, polls consistently prove that most Americans either like Obamacare or want it expanded.

Mitt Romney has retaken a significant lead nationally in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, even as he has fallen further behind Barack Obama in a general election matchup. Moreover, Obama’s own job approval rating has reached 50% for the first time since last May, shortly after the killing of Osama bin Laden.

...About half of Americans (53%) say that Congress should either expand the health care law (33%) or leave it as it is (20%); 38% favor its repeal.

The sociopaths have done their worst-- and apparently 37% of the American people (+ the one percent of course) is going along for the ride. Since taking over the House, the sociopaths have voted at least 25 times, symbolically, to kill it or defund it. "Should they succeed, millions of Americans would become uninsured, seniors would pay more for prescription drug coverage, and the insurance industry would once again be able to deny coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions and impose annual and lifetime limits on coverage." As Think Progress shows in this powerful infographic, here are some of the benefits Americans are already enjoying and what Republicans would take away:


Blue America has endorsed two doctors running for the House, Lee Rogers (CA) and David Gill (IL)-- and neither is ecstatic about Obamacare, although they both think it's a step in the right direction. Here's Lee Rogers, who's running against anti-healthcare fanatic Buck McKeon in a newly redrawn swing district that covers Simi Valley, Santa Clarita, Porter Ranch and the Antelope Valley northeast of Los Angeles:

It's understandable why congressional leaders wanted to reform our health care system after President Obama took office. But the Affordable Care Act is far from an ideal system like a single payer plan or "Medicare-for-all," as some have put it. Certainly there are good parts of Obamacare, like forcing insurance companies to spend 85 cents of every dollar on actual health care, eliminating pre-existing conditions as a determinant for coverage, and allowing adult children to stay on their parent's insurance until age 26. But there are sections that are not good for patients or providers. Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) will function like HMOs for Medicare patients, potentially limiting access to providers and services. The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is an executive branch appointed group that will legislate reimbursement rates for Medicare, but to be overruled, it will take a 3/5th majority of Congress. While pre-existing conditions can't be used to deny you coverage, there are no caps on what insurance companies can charge you. So you could be effectively priced out of the market. Overall, Obamacare was a step in the right direction, but there are many areas that need to be refined and reformed until we have a law that promotes affordable, quality care. We still have a long way to go and that's why we need elected officials who understand the system of health delivery to help shape the future of health care.

Dr. David Gill won his primary in Illinois Tuesday and we just moved him over to the mail Blue America page today. He's a longtime single payer advocate and last night he explained his feelings about the Affordable Care Act:

"The ACA was but a first little baby step toward meaningful health care financing reform here in America. There are some good provisions within the bill, but it leaves intact the basic paradigm of reliance on a private health insurance industry whose primary goal is the maximizing of profit.

"What we must do, instead, is to expand and improve Medicare. Uncle Sam runs Medicare at an overhead of 2-4%, while the private health insurance companies run up overhead and profit-taking of 10 times that amount. Uncle Sam is not in the Medicare business to make money, which is the fundamental difference between Medicare and the private carriers.

"We currently throw away up to 40% of our "health care" budget-- nearly $1 trillion per year-- on a health insurance industry whose primary goal is not the well-being of people. We can do so much better. It is a moral failure to stand by while an American citizen dies every 12 minutes just because they lack health insurance-- we are a better people than that. We will be far healthier and far wealthier as well, when we finally abandon the private health insurance industry and put in place a single-payer system."

Dr. Gill and Dr. Rogers both know how to make meaningful healthcare reform work for their patients and for the system. Blue America is backing them both for winnable congressional seats. And now they're both on the same page.