Making Yourself Spin-Proof: O-blama-Care

Beyond the sheer entertainment of spin, like Nancy Pelosi’s declaration on December 24, 2013 that Obamacare is “…going to be a glorious thing,” and claiming that the issue for midterm elections will be the economy and immigration (search Nancy Pelosi Obamacare glorious), is an important political manipulation of compartmentalization put forth by Ms. Pelosi that doesn’t occur in our everyday lives.

Sensibly, we know that when one thing costs more in our budget, it affects our ability to pay for other things in our budget. But what Ms. Pelosi is doing is providing insight into the spin.

One thing that can be said about Obamacare, not its enactment in 2010, but living with it in 2014 and beyond is that finally we’re noticing that all the sales pitches aside, this policy at its best is the creation of a new entitlement for those qualifying for Federal money who are eligible to use the exchanges that has shifted money from other areas and created new ways for the government to get money to run it through provisions such as the individual mandate and its effort to strong-arm the “right” kind of people paying money to insurers, specifically those less likely to make an insurance claim, the young.

I’ll stop right there. If you doubt that this is true, then before you react perhaps you should read a little bit more about Obamacare.

For many people, we are paying more for less coverage, for instance trying to enroll in health insurance comparable to last year’s coverage that costs more in premiums AND reduces insurance company contribution in helping pay for needed medical care by an uptick in co-insurance, co-payments, and deductibles.

This IS the economy. But Ms. Pelosi’s comments indicate that she suspects that the American people can be misled again into adopting ideologically appealing policies by focusing on lofty goals and sentiments rather than addressing realities and by separating Obamacare from the economy, or immigration from the economy, or even wasteful government spending from the economy.

If nothing else, it should be pretty clear that the “economy” does not operate in isolation. Raising payroll taxes though technically not raising income taxes and therefore keeping Obama safe from new accusations of lying, raised taxes for Americans receiving a paycheck.

Similarly, by carving out the pet project of Obamacare, obviously insurance companies, without any provision for restraint, chose to charge those outside of the exchange, more for health insurance in most cases.

Further, the push to get everyone on exchanges will eventually reduce the government handout paid to subsidize premiums, co-insurance, and co-payments as strains put on that system are addressed the same as strains put on every entitlement, by cutting the entitlement.

Certainly, paying more for health insurance impacts the economy.

And for the math lovers? You’ve no doubt heard the “only 5 million affected” number about people dropped from health insurance while also hearing the “over one million” have already enrolled in Obamacare.

Even ignoring what the government considers as “enrollment,” discussed in my post of December 16, 2013, “Healthcare Euphemism: Enrollment,” (http://conoutofconsumer.blogspot.com/2013/12/news-to-ignore-enrollment.html) you can see that by saying ONLY in front of 5 million and putting ALREADY in front of one million minimizes the failure of Obamacare in CAUSING the dropped insurance for 5 million while maximizing the success of Obamacare for “enrolling,” one million.

While there are some who still believe that the QUALITY of their coverage will have little impact on the economy, mostly those receiving great benefits who work in government, paying more for needed medical treatment DEFINITELY affects the economy.

But here’s where we get conned: PREVENTIVE care will help you avoid costs because…Because why? That’s right, because if you get a free checkup and find out you’re well then you don’t have medical care costs. But, as noted, in many if not all instances, the COSTS associated with getting well if you’re not 100 percent healthy have gone up. Paying more for everything from diagnostic testing to healthcare provider fees to procedures to medicines DEFINITELY affects the economy.

I anticipate that we haven’t learned our lesson with Obamacare in terms of knowing what we’re talking about before jumping on the spin bandwagon, and that Ms. Pelosi is spinning the sale of immigration reform and the economy because she believes that it will work.

I’m hoping it won’t because our economy is only beginning to feel the hit we’re taking from Obamacare. Obamacare is moving forward and yes, insurance companies are more stringently allotting what kind of care they’ll pay for, doctors are charging more for their services and fewer citizens will be able to pay for needed medical treatment. The ECONOMY and the lackluster improvements we’ve seen cannot shake that fact. Democrats should NOT be rewarded with a vote based on their performance.

But the strongest thing the Democrats have going for them is the Republicans, non-repentant, uncooperative and as steeped in providing their own version of reality as the Democrats are and this is why I believe that we will unwittingly reinforce Democrat craziness, because many will vote for Democrats rather than risk the perceived craziness of Republicans. In other words, our own votes will work to reinforce one wrong direction or another, and by wrong direction I mean the costly policies in terms of the ECONOMY for US citizens based on adopting the views of either side.

When it comes to O-blama-care, we’ve learned our lesson, politicians lie and the reality is different from the flowery ideology justifying a particular law, and is different from the uneducated attack of a law based on principle by individuals who also failed to inform the public about the law.

But our government representatives have not learned. They really have no incentive to learn, their benefits, salaries and isolated little world of bickering continues unaffected by the floundering of our country’s politics and our economy. If they need more money they’ll cut something that doesn’t affect them or they’ll charge for something that also doesn’t affect them.

I don’t know how politics will change but I do know that WE must now assert ourselves as wiser and try to ask the hard questions of our representatives instead of buying into spin so that regardless of the inadequacy of our choices in an election, we assert ourselves in the laws passed that yes, affect our ECONOMY.