" Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but freely, according to God’s will; not for the money but eagerly; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock" ~ 1 Peter 5:2-3
I despise Obamacare for many reasons including the government forcing me to buy a product that is substandard. Health Insurance does not despite what we are told equal Access to Health Care. If the product you are forced to purchase has insane premiums and prohibitively high deductibles, then you are basically spending money to keep the government from slapping a fine on you for a mandate they forced on you, forget having money to go to the doctor.
I do not deny that the health insurance industry has its issues and has had for many years, but I also am aware that many more people are between a rock and hard place than before the debacle of Obamacare. I won't even discuss the damage it has done to the employment market or businesses, the damage is pretty severe.
President Trump is determined to repeal Obamacare and replace it, I do disagree with the replacement but it won't be a mandated product any longer, so no one will be forced to buy into it.
However, I don't want to discuss how crazy it makes me that the government apparently hasn't learned anything about trying to control the healthcare industry. I want to talk about how incompetent Congress is because in creating Obamacare they made a mess and they did not need to, there is a simple solution to all of this.
Allow Americans who need insurance to buy into the Federal Health Care Insurance plans, open them to all Americans. I have been doing a comparison over the last few days of plan availability under Obamacare and Cost vs. plan availability and cost under the plan Congress has and actually federal workers have. The difference is STUNNING and is also infuriating because it is a simple solution but Congress (the House and Senate) appears to feel they deserve better than We the People their employers.
Under Obamacare in my zipcode there is only Blue Cross Blue Shield, available. For a family of 4 with a Zero deductible the monthly premium is $2098.02. For a Bronze Plan with a $7150 per person or $14,300 per family deductible the monthly premium is $1259.76. There are various and sundry different plan options in there but that is basically the high and low.
Under the Congressional Health Care/Federal Employees Health Care in my zipcode for Self and Family there are 31 choices of health plans with about 12 different carriers. For the Blue Cross Blue Shield Standard Plan with a total deductible (all family members) of $700 the monthly premium is $550.54. For an Aetna Plan with a $1600 deductible the monthly premium is $302.21/month. Here is the website address for the Federal Employees and Congressional Health Plans, so you can do your own comparison.
I tested this over the last few days with 100 randomly selected zipcodes in a variety of state and the results were basically the same.
As you can see there is a huge difference between what Congress deems they deserve and what they believe We the People deserve. It is infuriating and illustrates their incompetence and yes it should make everyone hopping mad.
We never needed to see our healthcare system implode, because with a one page bill Congress could have voted to open up the Federal Health Insurance Plans to all Americans in need of health care and could have still allowed for the subsidies which would have been minimal based on the pricing Congress pays.
Why is it that Congress believed and apparently still believes they can legislate a nightmare for We the People while voting cushy benefits for themselves. Congress exempted themselves and all federal workers from Obamacare.
If we are going to have healthcare legislation, Congress needs to promptly repeal Obamacare in full and then pass a one page bill that opens up the Federal Employees system to All Americans and they can choose to purchase insurance or not.
I am not sure why they will not do this but it is time We the People find out.
Today pray for the State of the Union address tomorrow, there are plans afoot for the minority party to act up.
Today pray that Congress will find their ethics and wisdom.
Today pray that God would lead you to someone you could bless today.
Blessings,
Mel
