To GOP: Repeal Obamacare and DON'T replace

Plain and simple, the PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) must be repealed utterly, no replacement or residual "good idea" left to haunt us. This is stated emphatically for the following reasons and I pray that Congress, particularly the republicans, are listening to the people and not to polls purposely skewed by the misleading, malpracticing media. It doesn't take someone who has worked in healthcare to understand the overwhelming disaster that has been ObamaCare although I'm one who has, so it behooves us to go back to the beginning... why people were so disgruntled with healthcare that the supermajority democrat Congress of 2009 used that opening to slam through incompetent, control-based compulsory legislation.

Before ObamaCare, the talk was centered on what should be done and wasn't--tort reform. The whole boondoggle of healthcare had come about by the growing litigious nature of receiving any medical attention. Attorneys, who had grown to be a majority of legislators in state houses and federal offices, had driven a wedge between provider and patient so deep that the one good solution was shelved for something that served law practitioners rather than restricted them--a beastly, unconstitutional, convoluted bill that ensured the need for legal intervention in every aspect of a person's life, thus shoring up the legal profession. And this is exactly what has come about. No one is safe to follow their conscience or religious belief when it comes to the so-called welfare of a human body, even their own. Instead of cutting out attorneys as the now necessary third party in what is incoherently called healthcare, they have been institutionalized to the point that individuals no longer have true choice about how they heal. The only "choice" that's encouraged is that of death for one's unborn child, elderly parent or one who is ailing and despairing. We call these things "abortion," "euthanasia," and "death with dignity," which not one of these "choices" are, in reality. In the 1990s, there was a growing trend in disability, Medicaid and personal injury claims that caused medical practitioners to begin the routine of testing for any and all possible conditions, just to protect themselves from being sued. The free-ride mentality was on the upswing and doctors were becoming buried in debt, being forced to carry millions in malpractice insurance to cover every possible contingency. And so, the slew of tests for self-protection became the norm to the financial detriment of both patient and practitioner.

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Legislators (whom we've mentioned are top-heavy with attorneys) could only see through the concept of litigation and how to avoid it (or increase it, depending on the lawyer). The problem was that instead of reforming overbearing tort law that encouraged people to sue for every possible malady--naturally occurring, iatrogenic or self-imposed, they wrote thousands of pages of regulations to supposedly avert litigation. Two problems with this fix.

1. the ever-increasing number of rules instituted by unelected, unaccountable bureaucratic bodies that, more often than not, contradicted themselves; and
2. litigation increased, filling up courts and further emptying both individual and government coffers to cover the costs.

The whole disability conundrum is something else that ballooned under the ACA. Everybody and their mother have been encouraged to apply for disability if they can't work, can't find work or won't work. The mental disability claims have gone through the roof by including anyone who suffers occasional depression, has fried their brain on drugs or swallowed the current mantra of trans-identity be that sexual, racial or some other configuration of existence. Indeed, there are individuals who have legitimate claims from work-related or other injury, birth defect or disease. But many of these who have healed enough and want to return to work are, under ObamaCare, refused that option because of practitioner liability under the law that restrains doctors from releasing patients to work. Obamacare not only corrected nothing, it increased the number of uninsured, underinsured and uninsurable. The official count of insured by the ACA is approximately 16 million when it promised to cover 30 million. This doesn't include the millions who lost private insurance and were forced into overpriced coverage, outrageous co-pays and limited offerings from a diminishing number of government-sponsored co-ops. Most of the (illegally operating, by the way) co-ops have gone bankrupt making it even harder for individuals to find adequate insurance.

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As in all free markets there were drawbacks in healthcare before passage of the PPACA. Still, uninsured patients received better care than after enacting Obamacare, more individuals could afford insurance and there was a plethora of insurance programs from which to choose. This law has managed to destroy lives rather than improve healthcare access, not to mention the government lawsuits waged against private businesses and ministries in an attempt to pressure them into defying their deeply held religious beliefs. The catastrophe of ObamaCare was and is complete. As much as legislators continue to prey on constituents with the promise of covering pre-existing conditions and indigent patients, neither has really come to pass under the ACA monstrosity. In fact, people unable to pay were cared for better before the bill was passed because--get this--individuals don't qualify for subsidies unless they are blind, aged and blind, are single with a blind or disabled child or, if none of the above, they have assets that can be attached. In this, I have personal experience in watching poor, needy patients turned away for exactly these reasons. What should have been and must now be done to assist people with pre-existing conditions and again create insurance choice is multifaceted:

1. Fully repeal the PPACA, aka ObamaCare;
2. Do Not Replace ObamaCare with ANY federal healthcare legislation;
3. Overhaul tort law so that both attorneys and self-indulgent manipulators don't overload the courts with specious cases and nuisance suits;
4. Open the insurance market for companies to access multiple states, creating a free market of ideas and plans;
5. Encourage individual medical savings plans that brings control back to the individual to serve their particular needs and circumstances, which also allows for alternative care;
6. Encourage cooperative healthcare plans like MediShare which develop community-oriented care

All these steps will bring healthcare back to where it started--a relationship between patient and medical practitioner, no third party necessary. The American people will be less stressed, healthier and happier as they return to the workforce with verve and hope.