More than a dozen years after Obamacare was signed into law with then-Vice President Joe Biden declaring it a "big (expletive) deal," many Americans are using expletives to describe healthcare, but not in a good way. A new Associated Press-NORC survey finds a majority of Americans are not satisfied with the healthcare system, and only 12 percent believe healthcare is handled extremely or very well. When it comes to prescription drug costs, mental health or nursing home care, only 6 percent believe those services are handled well.
With Obamacare's long list of broken promises, including that it would lower the cost of healthcare, it's no surprise that our healthcare system is no better off today, and in many cases worse than before the so-called Affordable Care Act. "I think the entire thrust of Obamacare was completely misplaced, in that they sought to have more people insured...which only causes further distance between patients and their service provider," says Todd Furniss, healthcare industry expert and author of The 60% Solution: Rethinking Healthcare.
"So what we've done is emphasized an idea---which in any other industry is nonsensical---that we're paying somebody---a middleman---to pay for our healthcare," he continues.
While proponents of Obamacare, and those who espouse single-payer "universal" health care, tout the importance of covering more people, that coverage often fails to result in quality care, or in care at all. "I have a friend (in Canada) who recently suffered a head injury and is seeking care, and her provider told her they could see her in December," says Furniss. "So you're saying you can't get somebody in to have a brain image done for three months? What kind of healthcare system is that?"
Meanwhile, healthcare will continue to be a major issue in every political campaign and poll, while real solutions remain elusive. "The problem is everybody wants to measure the (strength) of our healthcare system by determining how many people are insured," says Furniss. "That's the wrong metric...the right metric is how many people can afford healthcare without having to have insurance."