Given that I’ve probably published more articles critical of Obamacare than anyone alive, I’m often asked to speak to conservative audiences about our new health law. Last month, I was at the big grassroots confab of Americans for Prosperity, the Defending the American Dream Summit. I asked the packed house, “How many of you are on Medicare?” More than half the audience raised their hands. “Guess what?” I responded. “You’re all on single-payer health care.”
The stunned looks on their faces reinforced one of the most important aspects of our present health care debate. While conservatives fret about the possibility that Obamacare may be a Trojan horse for single-payer government-run health care, we usually forget that more than 90 million Americans are already on single-payer health care: those who get coverage from Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans Health Administration.
And you don’t need to be a fan of dark conspiracy theories to believe that “Affordable Care Act” expands single-payer health care in America. It’s right there in Title II of the law, under which Obamacare substantially expands Medicaid.
Many conservatives believe that we had a free-market health care system in America, until Obamacare was signed into law. But that’s not true. The government takeover of our health care system didn’t happen in 2010. It happened in 1965, when LBJ shepherded through Congress the amendments to the Social Security Act that became known as Medicare and Medicaid.
Read the full report here.
Contact Steven G. Cosby, MHSA with questions or to request more information and to schedule a healthcare plan evaluation, savings analysis or group plan solution for your company.