Showdown at the ACA Corral

Again, we are on the verge of yet another showdown between the Democrats and the Republicans on who will be held responsible for shutting down the government if it should come to that at the end of this month. Why can’t we blame both parties. Let’s call it a tie for ineptitude. Neither party seems particularly worried about the hardships  the citizenry will have to endure but more so about political one-upsmanship and which party will be blamed and thus suffer more at the polls in the next go round.

Both parties are hearing the shrill advances of the American people. Probably because they have so much extra time on their hands with being unemployed; or, if they have a job, having their hours cut by their employers  below the threshold of  30 hours, skirting a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Large corporations are now transforming full time workers to part time workers. Almost everything we have heard about the ACA as we get closer to implementation certainly doesn’t sound  like the panacea we were told it would be.

I still  remember  when a house visit by your personal physician would cost you $5. How did we get from there to here?

At the very least, the 2700 page document is foreboding and only policy wonks know what surprises await us.  And, as then Speaker of  the House, Nancy Pelosi said of the bill in her inimitable style. “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy.” A fog that, as of yet, hasn’t lifted almost four years later.

The Democratic  party stuffed the ACA down our throats when they had control of both houses of Congress and the executive branch. This law passed without one single vote of support from Republicans. Where was the cry for bi-partisanship and cooperation in 2009?

Beyond mere skepticism there is real  fear  that this overhaul of the health care system will be worse than what we already have. And is  anyone naïve enough  to believe it will cheaper for the average family. If our federal government was in charge of the Sahara desert there would be a sand shortage shortly thereafter.

If the ACA is the godsend the Democrats say it is why has the Congress  opted out? Why have some unions been able to get exemptions? Doesn’t the president  want his strongest supporters to enjoy the benefits he has worked so hard to attain for the American people? When a politician tells you to believe what they’re saying rather than what your eyes are seeing, beware.

The president is out on the stump, as per usual, pushing his policies. His pro-Obama mummified  backdrop of supporters clapping at the requisite applause lines makes you wonder, is he the president of all the people or just the oblivious? When he said last week that his opponents, “would blow the whole thing up because you don’t get your way.” I had to wonder would he blow off the whole budget and close the government down if he doesn’t get his?