The AHCRA, ACA, and the Single-Payer System

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formerly known as Obamacare, is here to stay, for now.

The American Health Care Reform Act (AHCRA), otherwise known as Obamacare lite, was a bad piece of legislation. Under the proposed bill 24 million Americans would lose heath insurance. If Congress repealed the ACA, then 23 million Americans would lose health care. This does not make sense. How can Congress, people voted to represent US citizens, propose such a bill? Fortunately, moderate Republicans and the Freedom Caucus revolted against their own party, and the bill was withdrawn.

Why can't the US come with a bill that will cover all of its citizens like Canada and the United Kingdom?

Simple -- it's called the single-payer health care is a system. Republicans, insurance companies, and pharmacies despise this system for it will wipe out these industries, which means no more jobs.

A single-payer system places the government as the only health care insurer in the country. Taxes would replace insurance premiums thus eliminating the need for insurance companies and hospital billing departments. Insurance companies would become nonessential secondary insurance providers, and private pharmacies would disintegrate. Yet again private businesses have more say in what legislation is and aren't passed in Congress over the voices of constituents.

Basically, every American would be on Medicare, something Congress has proposed several times in the past. Technically Medicare in its current form is a single-payer system. The 111th Congress expanded Medicaid and Medicare through the ACA, but only to those who cannot afford insurance.

The United States is one of the few countries left not on a single-payer system or a hybrid of the sort.

One of Senator Bernie Sanders' platforms while running for the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016 was expanding Medicare for all under a single-payer system.

Trick is a lot of Americans do not know what or understand the significance of the single-payer system. According to a poll by Yahoo/AP, most Americans are for Medicare expansion, but against a health care system like Canada's.

Republicans argue that the single-payer system is socialist. Need they be reminded that the Department of Veterans Affairs is a pure form of socialized medicine and President Trump has proposed increased funding in his budget proposal. When the ACA was passed the original plan was to expand Medicare to all, but the Democrats did not have the votes to withstand a Philabuster.

One argument is private insurance companies are pulling plans from the mandated marketplaces, so the ACA has to go away. Plans are being pulled but some remain. No doubt has premiums increased so drastically that middle-America cannot afford to use their plan. But more Americans are covered than ever before. If Medicare were expanded to all, then this problem would not exist.

The withdrawal of the AHCRA sets a clear precedent that the ACA is here to stay. No American will give up their health care in exchange for nothing or less coverage. The ACA has turned health care into an entitlement. As a result, no legislation will be passed to relinquished, repeal, and or replace the ACA. Congress might as well expand Medicare for all and save budget from increased efficiencies.



-Tyler