Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Republican leaders have pursued a vigorous and sustained attack on the law. At the core of their assault, they seem to be adhering to a concept articulated by Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Party propaganda minister. He said that if people are told a big lie often enough, they will believe it. Consequently, significant numbers of Americans disapprove of the ACA.
Since Republicans have provided no alternative to the Act, it appears that they would like to return to our former health system, which was very costly, notably ineffective and unfair. On a per capita basis, the former system was twice as expensive as that in any other nation. An objective assessment by the World Health Organization rated our old system 36th in effectiveness. Our former profit-driven system was also unfair. People with pre-existing health problems were denied admission to insurance programs and health care. Also, when some people who were currently enrolled then became seriously ill, they were dropped from their insurance program.
The ACA does not provide a perfect health care system but it is infinitely better than the former system that it replaced.
Phil Harr
Vancouver
