The other ObamaCare orphans

My posts about ObamaCare have focused on those who have health insurance now but will lose their current plans as a result of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. They are (we are) people who have gone along, taking care of our insurance needs, and are now getting a raw deal.

However, there is also another group of people who are getting a raw deal from the structure and implementation of ObamaCare: the people who have not been able to afford or not been able to get health insurance, and who were promised they would be able to get it as of January 1, 2014. It’s easy to say that they won’t miss what they’ve never had but I can imagine the worry, frustration, and heartbreak of those who are ill or, worse, have sick children; thought they would finally be able to get health insurance; and are now discovering they can’t afford the premiums or can’t afford the deductibles or simply can’t get through the websites to discover what’s available to them. And even those among them who don’t have illness in their family but believed the time was coming when they didn’t have to lie awake at night terrified that one of their kids would fall ill, must be bitterly disappointed.

This was all so unnecessary. There are many, many ways to help those who can’t afford health care. Ways that don’t require a huge, complex government mechanism; that don’t require a competent Administration; that would spend money on getting people health insurance - and health care - rather than on websites and administrative overhead. Ways to help that would actually help those who need it rather than serving the goals and ambitions of politicians and bureaucrats and ideologues

For the government to have made so many people’s lives worse is unforgivable. But for the government to have made promises it must have known it couldn’t keep to the most vulnerable among us is shameful.