SIGNING UP FOR OBAMACARE

By Annie Brock

By Annie Brock

There is a billboard in Nashville, right on I-24/I-40 West going into downtown, that says: “Obamacare: The game where the odds are always against you. Refuse to Sign Up.” It was ostensibly put there by an organization called “IhateObamacare.org.” I saw it this week for the first time, just 3 weeks before the deadline to sign up for the Affordable Healthcare Act, and as I drove by it, shaking my head at its audacity to hate and fear monger, part of my brain wanted to know, Who is that sign directed to?

Is it directed to me, the fully insured? Well, no, because I’m not tempted to sign up for the ACA anyway. I’ve had health insurance for years, covering me and my entire family, and when the ACA came out, I agreed with my insurance company to grandfather my original health care plan in and I kept my same insurance, my same coverage, my same doctors. I also managed to get a reduction in my health insurance premiums and a refund each year of any overages I might have paid in premiums as compared to the benefits I received. So they’re certainly not talking to me. I’m covered.

Are they trying to reach those employees who are already insured at work? No, they’re not tempted to sign up for Obamacare. They’re covered.

Are they trying to reach students who are already insured on their parents’ plans? No, they’re not tempted to sign up for Obamacare. They’re covered.

Are they trying to reach seniors who are covered under the decades old and wildly popular Medicare Act? No, they’re not tempted to sign up for Obamacare. They’re covered.

So who are they trying to reach? Who IS tempted to sign up for Obamacare?

The uninsured.

Think about that. This billboard in a very high dollar market zone is screaming at the uninsured, “Refuse to sign up!”

Why? What have the uninsured got to lose in this “game where the odds are always against you?”

Will they lose their current insurance coverage? No, they don’t have any insurance coverage.

Will they lose their freedoms and rights under the state or federal constitutions or state or federal laws? No, they are still fully protected citizens of the United States.

Will they lose money? Well, maybe, in the form of health insurance premiums paid to a profitable health insurance company, but they will avoid a tax penalty for failing to purchase health insurance, and if they are the POOR and uninsured, then they will receive government subsidies for their health insurance premiums AND they will suddenly be able to see a doctor about that cyst in their ovary or that herniated disc in their spine or that ulcer in their belly that has been giving them pain and grief for months or maybe even years. They will know and be assured, if they sign up, that they are now able to receive the proper health care for those conditions.

So why not sign up? How does it benefit the uninsured to remain uninsured? Is there something to be gained by refusing to get health insurance and thus appropriate health care when it is available to you? I can’t imagine what it would be.

Does it benefit us as a country for them to remain uninsured? There is no debate still raging about which of us pays for the emergency room swinging door for the uninsured…we, the insured, and the hospitals themselves, pay for their care. So we as a country, and the insureds among us, and the hospitals among us, certainly don’t benefit if they remain uninsured.

Does it benefit the insurance industry for them to remain uninsured? There is no question that this requirement that we all purchase health insurance from existing insurance companies (as opposed to the government becoming a single payer for health care) greatly benefits the insurance industry by bringing in new customers, new patients, new dollars, subsidized by the government when necessary. So the insurance industry certainly wants them to sign up and get covered.

So why not sign up? Who benefits?

The haters. The hard right radical wing of the used-to-be-Republican party who is committed and devoted to tearing down anything and everything that this President attempts to accomplish for our country. They benefit by being able to say NO. They benefit by scaring the bejesus out of the poor, the uninsured, and/or the uninformed so that they stay out of the market places and thus cause the Affordable Health Care Act to implode.

And at what cost? Who cares?

Are you sick, dying, need health care? Sorry….refuse to sign up for health care and help us prove our point: This government is still a good old boys’ club, and this president is not welcome.