What inspired my rant below was this, which I found here.
As someone who is self-employed, insurance for me and my family is absurdly expensive. After the ACA was enacted, my insurance cost went up and the level of coverage went down.
What? You mean all the things good little liberals like Amanda Marcotte said about how those meanie Obama-haters were all lying when they said their premiums shot up under ACA – you mean that wasn’t true?*
How COULD IT BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?
So yes kids, many people’s coverage has both worsened and gotten much more expensive under the ACA, despite the deranged shit Marcotte and people like her routinely spew.
*Note: I am not a Tea Partier or a conservative (quite, quite the opposite), but I will gladly link to a conservative site when it’s correct.
I live in a state which has opted out of Medicaid expansion, and I make just enough not to get any subsidies. My garbage HSA has increased in price again but it’s STILL significantly cheaper than the cheapest Bronze plan. I haven’t actually been to a doctor in years. So no, I’m not going to cheerlead the ACA.
The ACA does seem to help the very poor (some).
But for the most part, it helps insurance companies and their CEOs, and harms most middle-class people.
I’m shocked by all the rabid defenders, though. Why defend something objectively horrible?
People are tribal, I guess? Anyways, there’s nothing so objectively horrible that you can’t find somebody to defend it. (Yes, you didn’t want to hear, “It could have been worse.”) I suspect a lot of people who defend the ACA already get their insurance through their employers or are already covered under someone else’s plan. Since I’m too old for the “stay on your parents’ plan” and I don’t work for a company that provides health insurance, I’m not in that bucket. The preexisting conditions going away would be great if I could actually afford treatment above and beyond the premium. Most middle class people get their insurance through their employers — or has that changed? The people who complain about the ACA in concrete terms, in my personal experience, all get their insurance on the open market.
And when I say tribal I mean the ACA is Barack Obama’s claim to fame. Dissing the ACA is like siding with Republicans. To be honest, if Republicans weren’t so radioactively racist, they’d have gotten a lot more non-white votes.
Agreed about Repubs getting more non-white votes if they weren’t so racist. Many minority groups have significant conservative populations, but are unlikely to vote for those who outright hate them.
When (and I do think it’s when, not if) Republicans drop some racism, they’ll do better. Neoliberalism itself isn’t necessarily racist, and it’s not going anywhere.
I used to believe in the demographic shift leading to permanent Dem majorities, but now I’m very skeptical of that idea.