The health care law known as Obamacare mandates that people purchase health insurance. The Republican Party feels that this goes against its core values of freedom, choice, and personal responsibility. It’s no surprise, then, that the Republicans are citing these same values to promote the American Health Care Act (AHCA), their repeal and replacement plan for Obamacare. However, in a strange twist, the AHCA may actually leave Americans who make responsible choices with less freedom than Obamacare!
Let’s start with freedom and choice. These terms, used within the context of the AHCA, invariably come down to money. Republicans believe the American people should have the freedom to choose what kind of health insurance they want to buy, or whether they even want to buy health insurance at all. Put another way, rather than mandated health insurance under Obamacare, the AHCA ostensibly offers Americans the freedom to spend their healthcare dollars however they choose. This goes to the root of the difference between the two plans. Many Republicans passionately believe that the government should not force anyone to buy health insurance. Doing so is un-American, they say, because it takes away people’s freedom and choice, forcing them to buy health insurance even if they don’t want it.
However, giving Americans the freedom to choose whether or not to buy health insurance, as the AHCA purports to do, could actually end up, paradoxically, taking more freedom away. In order to understand this, one must first understand the way insurance works. Insurance is all about risk management. The larger the pool, the more dissipated the risk. Simply stated, the more people buy insurance, the less it costs for each individual because the risk is spread out over a larger group of people. This is why one of the central tenets of Obamacare is the insurance mandate. It also happens to be one of the most unpopular aspects of the law for Republicans. So, the easy solution is to pass the AHCA plan, which eliminates the mandate and gives the people the freedom to choose, right? Not so fast!
When the AHCA gives Americans the freedom to not buy health insurance, the pool becomes smaller and riskier, thereby raising the cost. As a consequence, under the AHCA, responsible Americans who purchase health insurance end up with less freedom (in the way of less money) just so that people who choose not to purchase health insurance can have the freedom to be irresponsible. How, then, is the AHCA giving Americans more freedom than Obamacare? How is the AHCA rewarding Americans who make responsible choices? It’s incredibly ironic that the Republicans’ health care plan actually goes against three of their most cherished beliefs!
Ultimately, the best plan, better than the AHCA and even Obamacare, is universal health care. Not unlike Medicare and Social Security, everyone would pay into a universal health insurance plan that would drive down costs by amassing the widest risk pool possible: every single American! And that would go to the heart of what it means to be a citizen of this country. After all, what better way is there to enjoy our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness than to be secure in the knowledge that we, as individuals, along with every member of our family, all our friends and neighbors, and our fellow citizens across the United States, can enjoy the security of knowing that our health care is fully covered? We put a man on the moon. Surely, we can figure out how to enact universal health care! We spend more on the military than the next seven nations combined. Surely, we can find a way to pay for universal health care! In the end, though, we shouldn’t do it because we can; we should do it because we must!
