The Washington Outsider

Proper Governance of Replacing Obamacare and Education Reform

1/18/2017

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Governments of the modern age exist to serve their Peoples.  It is, therefore, the responsibility of government to protect citizens from threats to their lives, health, and overall wellbeing.  It is also the responsible of government to provide for the general welfare of the People by ensuring individuals can provide for their own needs.  Defining proper governance with limits on government is, however, essential in order to prevent government overreach and oppression.  Education and healthcare are two critical areas where Americans struggle to define proper governance, which means they provide two excellent opportunities to discuss critical elements of proper governance.
 
This writer has argued for a shift away from  the “lifetime learning” model, which feeds an explosion of unsustainable academic spending and infrastructure, to a skill-building educational philosophy  rooted in “learning to learning,” but the question of whether government should pay for alternatives to public schools, i.e. charter schools, still remains a major focal point of reform debates.   While there are many who believe in privatization for the sake of privatization, there should be a compelling reason for government to privatize one of its function; otherwise, privatization becomes an excuse to ensure government remains dysfunctional.  If the private industry can do it better, the government should be able to do it better as well. ​
Looking at education, there is no fundamental reason public schools cannot do better, especially when it comes to primary education.  Education is not, after all, an industry where intellectual property concerns exist and a shortage of technical knowledge necessitates a reliance on private industry.  That said, government should defer to the authority of parents and parents should have a choice in the education of their children.  Consequently, government has no right to deny or impede access to private schools that, at minimum, embrace the same standards as public schools.  It is, however, not the responsibility of government to simply tax Americans to pay for what people want.  The responsibility of government is the general welfare of the American People; therefore, government should pay to reform public schools, not pay for private schools. 
 
Furthermore, ensuring access to affordable and effective healthcare is a responsibility of government, because it the responsibility of government to provide for the general welfare of the People.  After more than fifty years of fierce opposition to any reform, the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, took aim at the health insurance industry and forced some pivotal changes.  Under the Trump Administration and a Republican-controlled Congress, the GOP is on the verge of repealing Obamacare, yet it has failed to even restart the debate on a financially sound and politically viable replacement.  Consequently, Republicans are poised to upset the health insurance industry with a massive injection of uncertainty, which is certain to upset the broader healthcare sector and imperil the healthcare of millions.
 
In other words, the US government is on the verge of causing the American People problems instead of solving them.  The plain truth is that Americans are unsatisfied with Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act has needed revisions since it was adopted.  Under traditional political thinking, the fact that healthcare reform was passed with faults should have worked as an incentive for Republicans to reach out to Democrats, so further reforms could be made reality.  Obviously, the dysfunction of extreme polarization and zero-sum politics prevented any compromises or meaningful debate.  As such, there is a need to go back to the debate process, which has been thoroughly toxic, before repealing or even replacing Obamacare. This starts with the role of government in the healthcare industry.

​Ironically, the most caustic and vocal attacks against Obamacare have come from protesters benefiting from the socialist elements of America’s capitalist-socialist hybrid healthcare system as nearly fifty percent of the healthcare system is government controlled thanks to programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and SChip.  It is likely these critics, who want government to stay out of their healthcare, actually mean to communicate that they are against government dictating how medicine is practiced, a government takeover amounting to a fully socialized healthcare system, entitlements, which will further weigh down the National Deficit, shifting costs onto people who cannot afford it, and the possibility of diminished care. 

Recognizing the so-called individual mandate is likely the most disconcerting aspects of Obamacare, replace and repeal, versus repeal and maybe replace, should focus on eliminating the individual mandate.  The individual mandate was originally proposed by Republicans as part of a compromise rejected by Democrats in the 1990's and initially dismissed by then-candidate Obama during the 2008 Presidential Election, yet only Obamacare proponents are now keeping it alive. The individual mandate may have been central to the economic justification for other provisions, most notably banning the use of the preexisting condition exclusion, but its true role in reform was as a bargaining chip to disarm the insurance lobby.   
 
Consequently, healthcare reform should focus on replacing the individual mandate in order to ensure the sustainable of the healthcare industry and help drive down costs. Affordability is a consequence of supply versus demand that can only be alleviated by decreased demand for services, i.e. cut people off, or increased supply and better utilization of medical resources. Private or public insurance has nothing to do with it.  From doctors to bandages, the costs of treating even a healthy person mount very quickly. How resources are utilized can be drastically improved through innovation as well as better management of care. There are areas where private firms can do this better and others were the public sector has the muscle to force change.
 
What creates costs in any given private sector of the economy is the need for profits. What further adds extra costs are layers of for-profit bureaucracy.  Administrating healthcare and fees for service adds costs that can only be justified when enough savings are realized to more than pay for the service and the overall healthcare system is improved. In today's system, healthcare insurance providers add costs by exacting enormous profits while cutting benefits for those with purported preconditions. This is not improved efficiency under any definition of the term. Health insurance exists to pull reserves of capital together, coordinate care, and allocate funds in a more efficient matter.   Anything outside of these functions leads to waste as well as unnecessary denial of care, a.k.a. healthcare rationing for the sake of profits.
 
Profit drives innovation and expansion when it attracts investments in terms of financial assets, human capital, and the pursuit of novel thinking. Offering satisfactory services to patients and caregivers is one way of using profits to accomplish this goal. Building hospitals and expanding facilities with advanced technology is another. Rewarding the administrators of health insurance plans with large bonuses is not. When the for-profit insurance market solution to cut costs is increased costs to patients and employer sponsors of insurance policies with reduced benefits, their existence only adds to the inefficiency of the system. Consequently, a healthcare system driven by increased profits for bureaucrats, such as insurance providers, cannot lead to greater innovation or improved care.
 
Containing costs and paying for coverage into the future continues to be the maintain concern, yet the healthcare system must contain costs while caring for everyone in need, instead of focusing on increasing profits. Insurance companies, which will be looking to redesign for-profit schemes in an environment where coverage cannot simply be dropped or inflated, may well eventually push for a basic public option, so they can offer supplementary benefits at a profit.  Clearly, such a change will upset the insurance industry and reveal the reliance on government, but it will preserve the private for-profit and non-profit insurance market as well as access to private insurance and care.
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        • Should the Government Control Talk Radio to Make it More "balanced"?
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      • Should One's Faith Influence a Citizen's Vote?
      • Should the U.S. Government Help Fund Election Campaigns?
      • On Defunding Political Science Research
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      • Justice for All: The Case for Legal, Social, Economic, and Personal Justice
      • Why Hardliner Thinking in the NSA and CIA is Doing Damage
      • On the Baby Boomer’s Self-Centeredness
      • The Case for Personal Responsibility
      • What Modern Day Revolutionaries Need to Learn from Leader's like Mandela
      • Rising Western Acceptance of LGBT Primes Culture Clash
      • The Need for Wisdom Beyond the Numbers
      • Perceptions of the United States
      • How Honesty Relates to the Great Recession
      • Why the Middle Class and Rich Need to Support Their Long-term Interests
      • The Aristocratic Republic of the United States of America
      • Discussing the Need for Community Support
      • Why New Forms of Capitalism and Socialism Will Compliment Each Other
      • The Reason We Need to Understand What it is to Be Poor in America
      • Why the World Needs to Reinvest in America
      • Why Are We Against Terrorism?
      • Why Does Terrorism Exist?
      • US Influence: The Value of American Citizenship Around the World
      • Responding to "the Soldier as Sacrficial Victim"
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      • How comfort defines us as people >
        • Is Suicide a Cowardly Way Out?
      • Defense Against the Dark Arts of Manipulators
      • Defining Abuse >
        • On the Willing Victim of Abuse
        • How to Understand Abuse Victims
        • Recognizing Abuse
      • The Role of Substitution in Decision Making
      • Trying to Understand PTSD and Other Trauma-induced Mental Health Issues
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        • Mental Illness is Not the Cause of Anger and Violence >
          • Trying to Understand the Boston Marathon Bombing and Other Violent Crimes
          • Getting into the Twisted Mind of the Tucson Murder
      • Describing the Mind as Modes of Thought >
        • It’s Just Sex?
      • Relationships, or Arrangement
      • Understanding the Effects of Groupthink in the Workplace
      • Relating Circular, Inductive, and Deductive Reasoning to the Scientific Method and Religion
      • What is a Redneck? Understanding Different Cultures and Thinking
    • Economics >
      • The Need for Greater Economic Leverage >
        • Evaluating NAFTA and TPP
        • Undercutting Logistics with the Underpaid Independent Contractor
        • Unions: Hindrance or Essential to Free Markets
        • Eminent Domain Used Against Banks
        • Haitians Sue the UN for Failure to Help With Cholera
        • Looking at How Corn-based Ethanol and Other Alternative Energy Subsidies Stack Up
      • Empowering the Sovereign Nation-State by Rethinking Trade Policy >
        • Irish Sovereignty Lost Before Bailout
        • Why Sudan's Greatest Long-Term Hurdle is Our Lowest-bidder Economy
        • Reduce US Imports by Buying American Made Products
      • Ending the need for government support and tackling poverty
      • Income inequality: understanding the limitations and psychology of disadvantage
      • Looking at the Future of American Jobs >
        • On Questioning the Need to Address Economic Disparity
        • Minimum Wage is Not the Problem
        • Responding to the "Blip"
        • Why Education Is Not The Civil Rights Issue Of The Twenty-First Century
      • Considering the Impact of the Capital Gains Tax Deduction
      • Embracing a Capitalist Mindset >
        • Capitalism Versus Socialism
        • The Negatives of Socialism
      • Stealing Intellectual Property
      • Changing Business Models: From Enduring Entities to Cash Cows
      • Consumer and Investor Evolution in the Great Recession of 2008-09
      • Dealing with the Issues Surrounding the Patenting of Self-replicating Technologies
      • Is Technology Threatening Jobs?
    • Education >
      • The Role of Education in Creating a More Dynamic Workforce
      • Primary Education in America and the Changing Needs of Society
      • The Greatness of the American Education System
      • Ideas for Improving the United States Education System
      • Are Teachers Treated as Professionals?
      • Is Engaging Parents in Their Children's Education a Major Factor in Turning Around Low-performing Schools?
      • Should Grants Be Awarded to School Districts that Try Innovative Methods to Improve Student Achievement?
    • US Constitution >
      • On Reading the US Constitution
      • The Senate should not do more to limit the powers of the Judicial Branch
      • On the DOJ Justifying the “targeted Killings” of US Citizens
      • Corporations Do Not Have the Same Rights as US Citizens >
        • Corporate America Pleads the First
      • Discussing the Constitutionality of Per Capita Taxes
      • Was the California Supreme Court Right in Legalizing Gay Marriage?
      • Should the Bible Continue to Be Used for Swearing-in Ceremonies and in Courtrooms?
      • Should Religious Student Clubs Be Allowed in Public Schools?
      • Should the Government Control Talk Radio to Make it More "balanced"?
      • The Second Amendment: Not Outdated >
        • Are We Losing Our Second Amendment Rights
      • Eminent Domain Used Against Banks
      • Should a Woman Have the Right to Choose Abortion? >
        • Should Fathers Be Able to Opt Out of Parenthood?
      • Should Smoking Be Allowed in Public Places?
      • Is Teen Driving a Right or a Privilege?
      • Should US Companies Be Required to Provide Equal Pay to Women and Men?
      • Is eighteen too young to vote?
      • First Amendment Rights: The Priviledge of The Press
      • Do Mandatory Seat Belt Laws Violate Individual Rights?
      • Should cell phone use be banned while driving?
      • Dealing with the link between video game violence and children's behavior
      • Should police have to submit to routine drug and alcohol testing?
      • Public schools should not impose mandatory drug testing on students
      • Are High Taxes on Cigarettes Proper?
      • Should pharmacists be required to violate their religious beliefs and dispense the "Morning After Pill?"
      • Should school counselors uphold patient privacy or report students who become unstable?
  • For the record
    • Ongoing Issues >
      • Red Dawn in Ukraine: Understanding the Actions of Russia >
        • On Russia’s Coercion of Ukraine
        • The Russian Annexation of Crimea in the Eyes of the World
        • Putin Has Overplayed His Hand With Crimea
        • Ukraine in Terms of Resovereignization
        • Avoiding a Conflict Between America and Russia Over Ukraine
        • What Drives the World’s Interest in Russia’s Actions in Ukraine
      • China’s Aggressive Pursuit of Interests Demands a Global Response
      • Iran Makes a Deal: A Start to a Long-term Diplomatic Effort to Denuclearize Iran >
        • On the Future of a Nuclear Negotiations with Iran
      • America's Sphere of Influence: Retaking South-East Asia >
        • Power in Asia: Looking at the Power Shift in Japan
        • The China Paradox: Why America is Worried About China
      • Assessing US Support of Israel >
        • Tread Softly Israel for a Heavy Step May Be Your Undoing
      • Understanding the Dysfunctional Nature of the US-Pakistani Relationship
      • Recognizing the True Threat Behind the Current Unrest in the Middle East >
        • Reacting to the Escalating Crackdown in Syria
      • Assessing the Threat of North Korea >
        • Answering North Korea's Call for Food Aid: Breaking the Vicious Cycle Forced Upon Us by a Warring Nation
        • Dealing with the Restarting of the Korean War
        • North Korea Attacks South Korea
      • Dealing with the Ill-effects of Climate Change
      • Racial Inequality and Oppression Do Truly Exist in Today's Society
      • Should energy independence be a high priority in the US?
      • An overview of world wide Human Rights violations
      • Nuclear Threat from Pakistan
      • Return of The Cold War?
    • World >
      • Coverage of FIFA World Cup is a Chance to Focus on Poverty >
        • The FIFA World Cup Offers Benefits for More Than Brazilian Soccer Fans
        • FIFA Can Bring Brazilians Together as a Nation
      • Being Prepared for Any Potential Dangers at the FIFA World Cup Games
      • Treading Softly on the Politicizing of the 2014 Sochi Olympics Over Gay Rights
      • Why NATO Operations in Libya Lack a Well-defined Mission
      • China Hijacks the Web
      • Lessons from the Great Japanese Earthquake of 2011
      • A Modernizing Cuba Offers an Opportunity for Capitalists
      • The Seeds of Democracy Take Root in the Middle East
      • The Rebirth of Democracy in Tunisia
      • What May Come from the Hurt Revolution in Libya
      • Responding to the Violence of Qaddafi and Other Besieged Leaders
      • Embracing the Rise of a Democratic Egypt
      • Protests in Afghanistan Turn Deadly for Coalition Forces and UN Personnel
      • Haiti: Another Failing Humanitarian Investment
      • What Karzai Can Learn from Calderon
      • START II: A Necessary, Easy Success that Nearly Failed
      • Why Does the U.S. Government Support Independence for the Breakaway Serb Territory of Kosovo but Oppose Independence for the Breakaway Georgian Territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia?
      • Iraq's Electric Issues: When Human Wants Trump Economic Sense
      • The International Community Reacts to Wikileaks: We May Be Moving Toward a Third World War in Cyberspace
      • On Climate Gate
      • Assessing Obama's Afghanistan War strategy
      • 2009 Iranian Presidential Election: The Fallout
      • Resolving Sri Lankan Conflict through Free Media
      • What are the Global Consequences of Russia's Invasion of Georgia
      • The War in Iraq: an assessment of President Bush's surge strategy
      • Drug War: Actions of Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador in terms of Resovereignization
      • Is the Iraq Refugee Crisis America's Responsibility?
      • US support for a united Kosovo, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia: why?
      • Should the US withdraw from Iraq?
      • Setting a Timetable for Troop Withdrawal from Iraq is a Terrible Mistake
      • War on Terrorism is needed
    • Law and Order >
      • Rape in the US Military
      • Ethics of Force-feeding Guantanamo Bay Detainees
      • Reacting to the Aftermath of the Tucson Massacre
    • Economy >
      • Affordability Drives Fear of Obamacare and the Individual Mandate
      • Is the Economy Built for a Job's Recovery?
      • Gutting Healthcare Reform of the Individual Mandate
      • Arizona Budget Cuts Lead to Lethal Healthcare Rationing:
      • Shameful Collection Practices of American Banks
      • The Fed Reveals it Actually Undertook an International Bailout
      • Thoughts on French Budgetary Reforms
      • Seniors Start Businesses
      • The Case for Slimming Down the US Military to Make it Better
      • Looking at the Obama Administration's New Approach to Economic Policy
      • Should the Government Regulate the Credit Card Industry?
      • The Big Three's Big Chance
      • The Unhealthy Tone of the Healthcare Reform Debate
      • Should the federal government offer a bailout for home owners?
      • Environmentalists: Do They Do More Good Than More Harm?
      • Responding to Scott Walker's Contribution to the War on Unions
    • US Government >
      • America Needs to Focus on the Impending Fiscal Crisis
      • Reacting to the Bush Era-tax Cut Extension Deal
      • Quitting the Obama Revolution: The Fickle Nature of American Politics
      • John Boehner's Circus
      • Is the Fed Putting Itself in Jeopardy?
      • Wikileaks Goes After the US State Department
      • Discussing the Political Environment Surrounding the 2011 Budget Debate
      • What the Democrats Can Do to Ensure a GOP Year in 2012
      • What the 2010 Midterm Actually Said
      • Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper
      • Democrats Minus Nancy Pelosi Equals Opportunity
      • Terrorists Go Postal: The Terrorism Threat Reexamined
      • Victory in the 2008 Election: Reaction to Barack Obama'a Win >
        • Expectations for Barack Obama
      • President Obama's first one hundred days
      • John McCain's Negative Campaign
      • Reasons People did not Elect John Mccain
      • History judges the George W. Bush Administration
      • Should the next US President focus on domestic issues?
      • President Bush, should he resign or be impeached
      • Should the Ban on Government Sponsored Assassinations be Repealed
    • Off Topic >
      • A Face of America’s Greatest Generation
      • A Story About a Man Who Made the World a Better Place
      • Making the World a Better Place
      • The Bipolar Ethical Nature of Google
      • Learning Computer Plays Jeopardy
      • Verifying Medicine is the Real Thing
      • Taking a Practical Step Forward in Optical Computing Using Slow Light
      • Scientists Take a Closer Look at How Lithium Batteries Work
      • Remarking on the First Blizzard of the 2010-2011 Winter Season
      • Driving in the Snow: Acceleration is the Key
      • How People in Northwest PA Are Coping with the Increasing Cost of Oil
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