Damn Obamacare. . . Or Not?

My family has recently had some challenges with our health insurance provider, getting coverage for some necessary tests. The nature of that challenge is a topic for a different post. What has me pondering is the effervescent eagerness of friends and family to casually and flippantly respond to our situation by blaming Obamacare. It has become evident that this is a common response to challenges such as ours. This response is beginning to, if it hasn’t already, land in the kingdom of ‘common wisdom’. If your rates have gone up, “Obamacare”. If your coverage has shrunk, “Obamacare”. Deductible increase? “Damn Obama!” Common wisdom makes me uncomfortable.

. . .38% increase in earnings per share

I am by no means a fanboy of the Affordable Care Act, but I am also skeptical of massive, for-profit health care. I didn’t want to simply accept the common wisdom so I did a little digging. It turns out my healthcare insurance provider has almost doubled their revenue since 2009, and seen a 38% increase in earnings per share. There are plenty of things about Obamacare that deserve criticism and even remediation, but I am not willing to accept the common wisdom while the health care insurance industry continues to cash in.