I am amazed that after all this time, Americans still do not understand the original Affordable Care Act proposal, and cannot see the trick the insurance industry played on our nation. The Affordable Care Act would have been “affordable” because it would have affected no one but the working poor. It would have been federally regulated, but not federally funded. It would have been financed by payroll deduction of the policy holders. Above all, it would have been affordable because premiums would have been based on workers’ ability to pay, rather than insurance industry profitability.

If the Affordable Care Act public option had not been spun into a for-profit marketplace, the already insured satisfied with their coverage would have been able to keep their policies, just as President Obama said. By changing the affordable public option into a for-profit marketplace, the insurance industry successfully used “Obamacare” as an excuse to raise rates on all who would have been unaffected. Insurance industry CEOs knew that changing the act into a profitable marketplace would not only lead to government subsidization of their profits, but give them an excuse to increase rates on the already insured.

Like Social Security, an affordable health insurance public option would be funded by the policy holders. Because all do not need healthcare at one time, there would be more than enough to meet the needs of those who do. If there were a surplus at year’s end, premiums could be lowered for the next year. If there were a deficit, premiums could be raised accordingly, because no corporate executives would be receiving $million in salaries and bonuses, and stockholders would not be collecting dividends.

The Affordable Care Act would have insured 50 million American workers who could not afford for-profit health insurance. However, 20 million are now insured under “Obamacare,” which is heavily federally subsidized, and provides an insurance industry excuse to gouge workers who could afford for-profit health insurance coverage.

Lobbyist cleverly painted the public option as a European styled single payer plan of government subsidization. As a result, 20 of the 50 million who could have been insured are now covered by federally subsidized for-profit health insurance; increased rates on the working non-poor are blamed on Obamacare; and the insurance industry laughs all the way to the bank, now don’t they?

Think about it, please.

Robert C. Currie Jr.

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