Affordable Care Act Part 2: Doomed to Failure

Universal health care has been attempted in many other countries, and in every other country the results have been a mixed bag. The way the bill became law in the United States immediately set it up for heightened scrutiny. Pushing the bill through the legislative process without bi-partisan support only served to notify the public that Republican concerns were unfounded; the Democratic representatives knew what they were doing and failure was not a possibility. As we are finding out now, the concerns of the right weren’t entirely unfounded and the certainty of the left was based upon very little but party allegiance. 

One of the primary concerns of the Republican Party regarding the affordable care act was the perceived inability of the Government to run anything better than a private enterprise. Compounding this concern were issues seen in other countries that had provided health care to all of its citizens. The rollout of the affordable care act needed to immediately quash any such concerns by showing a smooth, streamlined process. The federal exchange needed to show every citizen a multitude of choices that were equal or superior to what was previously available. The Government needed to act like a new business trying to upset the status quo by offering a better product at a better price. Instead, the government rolled out a half-finished website and 10 million+ cancellation notices from insurance companies. The Whitehouse is treating these like expected road bumps on the path to a better tomorrow, only these road bumps weren’t on the map shown to us in 2009 when the bill became law.

There was hope that the Affordable Care Act would provide every citizen with health insurance without the drawbacks that have plagued every other country that has made the leap into universal health care. Democrats frequently referred to health insurance as a “broken system,” however, in recent weeks we have only seen one broken system replaced by another. Instead of offering a superior solution, one that illuminated the failings of the private sector, we have merely been given another example of political rhetoric failing to provide tangible value to this country. The rollout of HealthCare.Gov just illuminates the inability of politicians to launch a product as effectively as a business. The possibility of failure drives businesses to deliver the best product they can for their target audience; the impossibility of failure allows the Government to deliver any product they want.Though the Affordable Care Act may end up working, it will never be able to fully shake its early failings. In their rush to provide a solution to the health care problem, too many politicians settled for the first one they found ignoring the possibility of a better one on the horizon.