Obamacare and Nationalized Health Care

Joseph Schembri had a letter published in the Village News, July 30. He was primarily discussing “Obamacare.” He made a number of statements that I believe were incorrect and ill-conceived.

He said that some say the Republicans have nothing to replace “Obamacare” with. He said they do have a plan, it is capitalism.

Capitalism is an economic system, not a plan. A real health care plan will have specifics about medical insurance, the role of government, how preexisting conditions will be treated, how employer-based health care insurance fits in to the system, etc. “Obamacare” attempted these specifics. It was not totally successful but it made a great attempt, and, in fact, millions of people had health insurance who did not previously have it. Now, under the current administration, which is trying to totally throw out “Obamacare,” millions have lost their coverage.

The Republicans have been trying to throw out “Obamacare” since it became law in 2010. Ten years and still no plan, no specifics. How many times did candidate Donald Trump and, now, President Trump say he was going to replace “Obamacare” with a better plan that will be considerably less expensive? I have lost count of the number of times he has made that statement. As recently as July 19, he told Chris Wallace he would “sign a new health care bill in two weeks.” We are now approaching three weeks, no bill. In fact, Congress is not even considering a bill. How can he possibly sign something that has not been written or acted upon by Congress?

Schembri talked about “Obamacare” being the first step toward socialism. Is he not aware that Social Security, adopted in the 1930s, and Medicare, adopted in the 1960s, are very socialistic?

Many seem to be afraid of socialism, but in our society and culture, we have many features that are socialistic in principle. Besides Social Security and Medicare, we have Veterans Affairs health care, public schools, public police and fire departments and public libraries. Should all of those programs be abandoned because they are socialistic in principle?

We are the only major industrialized country in the world without some sort of nationalized health care system. Our health care and health care insurance system is a giant patchwork quilt system. Why are we not looking at what other countries like Switzerland and Taiwan are doing with their systems to get some ideas on fixing our system. Yes, it is a big task. Yes, it will take cooperation on all sides, and yes, it takes leadership. Leadership is the main ingredient missing at this point.

Mike Reardon

Fallbrook resident