Giving to the Rich

In March of 2010, amid national controversy, Congress passed and President Obama signed into law the Affordable Health Care Act. According to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services pamphlet, the law is supposed to cut health care costs (“Understanding the Affordable Care Act: About the Law”). But where does it specifically say that it will, and more importantly, how? Looking through the Compilation of Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, published by the Office of Legal Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives during the debate of the bill, I found nothing in it that would reduce the costs a person would pay for a doctor's visit or a prescription from the pharmacy. But there is plenty of information on how the law will require all citizens to give more money to insurance companies. An article by Jill Bernstein et al, in a Mathmatica Policy Research brief titled, “How Does Insurance Coverage Improve Health Outcomes?”, attempts to support the new law and persuade its readers why everyone should have health care insurance and the benefits of doing so. But my question is still the same. Why? Why can't we make laws that actually make it affordable for an individual pay out of their own pocket, directly to a doctor or pharmacy? The only conclusion I can come to is greed.

With this paper I want to show how the Affordable Health Care Act does little to actually provide consumers with quality health care at an affordable price. How it actually increases the costs of health care is because of the greed of the health care, pharmaceutical, and health insurance industries. That the costs of health services will continue to rise without direct regulation of the health care industry.

According to Berns...

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