Obamacare

Like the Supreme Court justice, I won't pretend that I've read it - it's 2,700 pages long, and not exactly entertaining. Like most bills, it's probably unnecessarily lengthy, but contrary to how some are talking, it's again nothing new. Sometimes it's likely because a bill does cover a lot of subject matter, and every loophole needs to be closed, and sometimes it's for a more nefarious purpose - to discourage anyone (including congress) from reading much of anything beyond the title, as is my suspicion with the Patriot Act.

Of course, neither side is immune to using such tactics. At any rate, for those who have forgotten, Obamacare is not the bill's actual name - it's the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Here's a fourteen page summary. It's kinda surprising that Fox News' propaganda against it has gotten so popular as to make even supporters of the bill forget its actual name, although "Obamacare" really doesn't sound too terribly negative, despite attempts to make it into a dirty word.

The main thing that makes me wary is a mandate. Sometimes care simply isn't affordable, even if it's on a sliding scale. Yes, you can file for free care... but anyone who has ever filed for government benefits knows it takes a very long time... and in the meantime, you're still getting fined for not having said benefits.

Otherwise though, I like it. I like that it bans disqualification over "pre-existing conditions." Call me anti-capitalist for that if you like, but seriously - cancer won't go away just because you lost your job and the benefits that go with it. Should money, or blind luck in not being laid off from a job, be such a strong deciding factor in life-or-death decisions? I like that it makes healthcare available to all Americans.

I've noticed that those who protest it the most strongly are the same ones who, if asked why they dislike it, they'll provide answers such as "it's un-American," or "it's socialist." Good luck finding people that can actually point to specific parts and reasons for the dislike - they dislike it because Obama came up with it. They dislike it because someone with a loud voice who pretends to be more knowledgeable than most told them to dislike it.