We’ve all noticed over the last several months Republicans declaring that we must defund Obamacare “before it’s too late”.
Well, what does “before it’s too late” mean? I Googled obamacare + “before it’s too late” and got a long list of hits. I read a number of them and found that most argued that if allowed to remain operative Obamacare would cause untold misery, escalating costs, lack of choice, etc – none reasons that seem all that plausible. Only a couple that i read mentioned that if Obamacare were not stopped now, the benefits it offered would become viewed as entitlements, and then it would be too late to stop it. Now we’re onto something.
None of them mentioned that the entitlements they were thinking of were Social Security, Medicare, and President Bush’s prescription drug coverage. Nor did they mention that these programs became thought of as entitlements because they worked so well and were thus overwhelmingly popular with the people, or at least with the people who weren’t rich. Nobody nowadays, except the most rabid Tea Partiers and the Libertarians, wants to end Social Security and Medicare. There were widespread anecdotes last year about elderly Tea Partiers waving signs demanding that the government keep its hands off their Medicare although these are so ludicrous that they may have been left wing plants.
Social Security and Medicare were vociferously damned by the right when they were first enacted and, like Obamacare, their rollouts were marred by initial difficulties. But now they are great success stories and thus it’s too late to stop them.
Medicare has served as the most powerful force in holding back the escalation of medical care costs since it has constantly bargained with the medical industry to reduce costs. Squealing that it’s socialistic only pretends that it’s not working superbly.
The great fear of the right is that Obamacare will be a similar success once it’s fully operational. That’s why it’s necessary to stop it now, before it becomes as successful as Medicare.
And speaking of successes, here’s a neighborhood institution on Market Street. I just love the signage.
