In 2009 Hank Aaron of baseball fame said, “…if a player is elected who's known to have used steroids, then I think there ought to be an asterisk or something mentioned on the plaque that he used steroids,” Bill Madden, DAILY NEWS, 7/26/2009.
I think that many of us living through the historical era of the implementation of Obamacare will also always consider President’s healthcare “reform *.”
Sure, the legislation got through though some argued that the tactics used to pass it showed a stroke of strategy success rather than policy success, (seeForbes.com, 3/26/2014, “A Look Back At How The President Was Able To Sign Obamacare Into Law Four Years Ago.”)
Sure, the population bought into what we were told about Obamacare but what we were told very often ultimately was and continues to be only partial truths and outright lies.
Sure, we’ve been living with Obamacare though many of its provisions, timed to take effect neatly after the President’s re-election in 2012 didn’t seem to penetrate the public consciousness until a few months before their 2014 effective dates.
We’ve watched the law be enforced in a piecemeal fashion, get broadened by an IRS eager to support Obamacare participants by expanding its provision of subsidies beyond the text to federal exchange participants, watched a Supreme Court strike down certain features of the law and more importantly have watched our premiums rise rather than go down $2,500 as initially promised, and watched the same old problems of inadequate coverage leaving individuals with health insurance facing financial despair if they need medical care and services.
In fact there have been so many instances where the population has been left feeling duped that even as late as November 16th of this year, 2014, the President still is arguing that he did not mislead “…voters about his signature health care law in order to get it passed in 2010,” “Obama: We didn't deceive anyone to pass Obamacare,” Sara Fischer, CNN, updated 5:56 PM EST, Sun November 16, 2014.
For the President he no more wants an ASTERISK than the baseball players wanted an asterisk beside their names for steroid use. A legacy of being a cheater? No one wants that.
But citizens leave a legacy too. There is the legacy of the individuals who fought for civil rights, not simply government officials. There is the legacy of the citizens who tolerated slavery. There is a legacy of policies enacted by officials but carried out and tolerated by individuals for everything from the death penalty to cutting food stamp allowances.
What about our legacy?
Would I have voted for the President whose promises did NOT explain that Obamacare would help only several millions of people by creating a government entitlement to pay their premiums but that left tens of millions in a worse position paying more for health insurance or leaving the poorest ineligible for Medicaid in states without expansion trying to get healthcare in hospitals with reduced payments for uninsured patients from the federal government based on the myth that Medicaid would reduce the need for such payments? No.
Would I have supported a candidate who advocated charging young people and smokers of tobacco and older folks more for health insurance in order to preserve insurance company profits in the face of Obamacare’s prohibitions against insurance companies charging anyone else more for health insurance including those with pre-existing conditions, drug problems, alcohol problems or marijuana smokers? No.
Would I have supported Obamacare policies that require single males who are not parents who earn low salaries to purchase healthcare plans with mandatory coverage of preventive health benefits for women including free birth control and checkups for women without provision for any free male health services such as screenings for testicular cancer or checkups? No.
Our legacy as citizens supporting bad laws and policy is as tainted as the President’s and that’s why attaching an asterisk to policy or practice that the public seemingly was tricked into is vital. It is the cost to all our legacies and credibility that suffers when we omit the asterisk.
