Obamacare, Art, and Price Gouging
America is risk. That is the heart of this country, the implication of our collective Dream that we are taught to ascribe to as children. America is freedom. Freedom is risk. Therefore, risk is America.
In the heart of the Affordable Health Care Act debate comes the assertion that the program is inherently un-American because of the individual mandate. I propose, to the contrary, that by shifting the burden of health insurance from the backs of employers to the government, we are freeing up prospective entrepreneurs, allowing for a new wave of risk-taking as some of the country’s best and brightest minds are allowed to leave corporate America to search out opportunities for themselves. Open enrollment runs through February 15 with all eyes on the performance of healthcare.gov, which stumbled last year as high volume traffic caused repeated crashes. The site has handled the heavy volume better the second time around with over one million visitors in its first two days. Problems are still popping up, including issues with existing log-in info (which I encountered) and glitchy state marketplaces, but nothing compared to the meltdown of 2013.
This is the nature of health insurance, unfortunately. No more or less a headache than when I purchased it through an employer. The only difference is the acrimony over delays is directed at a government entity rather than hapless Human Resources Reps. Yet, I adore this program because it has allowed me to take a great risk with my life, to find my own version of the Dream and, in so doing, leave the comforts of traditional employment.
Regarding corporate America, I do not fault anyone who chooses the safety of multi-billion dollar employers able to weather recessions better than the volatile existence of small businesses. I often consider how much easier my life would be if I returned to the corporate path. I could install myself inside a cubicle, grind out forty hour work weeks at a job I despise while I claw my way up to progressively larger and better situated offices. With that corporate job comes the much heralded benefits of 401K’s, vacation days, and health insurance. They seem like treasures at first, but soon become chains that discourage risk-taking. How can one start their own business when that means leaving those benefits behind?
My breakthrough arrived when I found an opportunity to work a part time job that yielded enough income to then allow me to shift my focus to this publishing company. ACA then allowed me to find health insurance on my own so I would at least have some protection should a medical emergency arrive. It would be nice if Literati became a media empire able to provide me with all the benefits of a traditional employer, but that is not really our mission. I always envisioned Literati being a platform where ambitious writers and artists can begin building their portfolios so that, once they’ve established their readership, they can advance upstream to larger publishers with the resources to push these talented storytellers onto the national stage. There is not a lot of money to be made in the mentoring business, but this is what satisfies me, this is where I can make a difference in Oklahoma and help improve our creative community.
Being able to purchase quality and affordable health insurance from a government-run marketplace allows me to take this risk. I don’t expect everyone to follow suit, but there are many like myself who need n0n-traditional employment to realize their potential in a number of different industries. America needs the corporations just as it needs the entrepreneurs. ACA is a tool that allows for the freedom to choose our own path.
Universal coverage is not a magic bullet for the health care industry. There are other problems that need different approaches, primarily the soaring costs. Tools for pricing transparency will likely become an important factor in getting health care costs under control. Opscost.com allows users to compare the costs of specific procedures at medical providers in their area. I did a search on “spinal fusion operations with no complications” and found that the billing cost varies from $51,893 at the McBride Orthopedic Hospital to $100,926 at the Oklahoma Heart Hospital. These are both located in Oklahoma City. This wide price gap was typical of other procedural searches I made. The disparity is not entirely price gouging. Differences in care and uses of costly new technologies that increases odds of successful procedures also factor into the final bill, but it would be foolish to think that hospitals aren’t benefiting from an ill-informed customer base.
Conservative opposition and state-run efforts to kill the program are ongoing, but as long as the Supreme Court doesn’t gut the bill on a technicality, President Obama will shield his signature program from the Republican controlled legislature. Then we will have a new presidential election in two years which will likely favor the Democrats. Republicans know that the clock is ticking on their chance to overturn ACA and, once Americans have acclimated to pseudo-socialized health care, they will become more resistant to giving it up. Should ACA be overturned, then millions of newly-insured Americans will soon find themselves unable to afford health coverage, myself included, and be forced back into the corporate workforce or to roll the dice and hope that they never get sick or injured again. This will hurt the innovators and the risk-takers, it will discourage entrepreneurs and strip quality employees from small businesses that are unable to provide benefits. The American Spirit will be diminished in favor of a homogeneous workforce.
Hopefully, as ACA is given time to show its worth, the program will be improved to take advantage of new ways to help Americans acquire quality health care without mortgaging their livelihoods. Republican opposition will fade to just a fringe battle cry, and the quality of life for Americans will tick up a few more notches. Universal health insurance has been a long-delayed progression in American life and ACA will likely look much different in years to come, but it was a milestone for our nation and will provide our worker’s, artists, business-owners, and students the flexibility to realize their own unique destiny while forging a stronger, more sustainable economy in the process.
