"Obamacare"

I find it completely fascinating how so many people in our country are anti "Obamacare," not the Affordable Care Act. It seems many have latched on to the catchy phrase and divorced its meaning.

I don't know who convinced anyone that calling the law by its proper name equated to supporting socialized medicine... but there are some who believe this.

The Affordable Care Act, no matter what name you want to call it, has some good and some bad, but it is most certainly not socialized medicine. Last I checked, socialized medicine didn't have anything to do with privately held insurance companies being allowed to step in and charge. That's maintaining a capitalist system.

There are people who like President Obama and don't like the Affordable Care Act, just as there are people who can't stand President Obama but appreciate some of what the Affordable Care Act will do for them.  This is not a simple "Obamacare is socialized medicine" situation, and I'm offended by those who believe it is. 

Health care in this country should not be about who is president, and it should not be about catchy words. Health care should not be based on which party is in office.

In my mind health care should be about a sick person going to the doctor, paying for the service, and leaving with recommended treatment.

Currently that system is not what we have. 

Some people have the above scenario and others have this one:  

A sick person checks with their insurance company to see if their doctor will even see them based on accepted rates, goes to the doctor and listens to what treatments they need but may or may not be covered by their policy, the patient then appeals to the insurance company to please allow them to have the treatment their doctor prescribed, hires an attorney to step in when their final appeal is denied because paying for the treatment would cut into the insurance company's bottom line, and the patient potentially goes bankrupt while all of this goes on, because they are forced to decide between life and money.

I would like to refer individuals who believe "Obamacare" to be socialized medicine to a book by Wendell Potter called Deadly Spin. In the book he talks about how Public Relations companies and PR executives used the words "socialized medicine" any time privately held insurance companies looked like they would have to start being accountable for their actions. 

Don't buy in to catchy phrases... educate yourself and decide on your own what the catchy phrases are masking.