Soundoff: ACA first step toward progressive healthcare

Republicans are holding the economy hostage as a bargaining chip to delay or defund Obamacare, despite it being a monumental step forwad in healthcare reform. They oppose the reform because of the increase in spending it might incur, even though it will create jobs, make it cheaper for employers to offer employee healthcare, and provide affordable healthcare to those who would normally be without it.

Though people on both sides are screaming for compromise, Democrats have been placed in a difficult position, forced to hurt citizens whatever they do. Assured that Democrats will eventually cave, Republican senators have attempted to soften their image by offering to donate their salaries to charity during the shutdown period.

But there should never have been a shutdown in the first place. Even if it is lifted, these actions show a total disregard for what may befall the federally employed in the meantime.

The government shutdown illustrates how hesitant Americans still are to accept the Affordable Care Act, despite its benefits. Under the law, more people will become insured, and Medicaid will be able to expand. As more Americans become covered, young people will have the option of staying on their parents’ plans longer and businesses will have new incentives to provide insurance for their employees. Despite conservatives’ fears, you will not be forced into one plan and, if you’re satisfied with your current plan, you can keep it. You also can’t be dropped from your plan for getting sick. Having worked three summers in a pharmacy, I’ve seen what it’s like when a customer can’t pick up their medications because of another fluke or policy change in their insurance.

Though the ACA has a number of flaws, it is certainly better than the “free for all” system we had before. To healthcare workers, the greatest development the ACA brings is its potential for more wide-sweeping healthcare improvements in the future. They predict that it will open the door for more radical changes. Estimates are that patients will be more easily nudged toward receiving recommended or qualifying tests that they might not have chosen to otherwise. This expectation means that patients will be better screened and will experience targeted marketing of medical services with greater customization, like Netflix has done with the entertainment industry.

Doctors also expect that greater price transparency for consumers will come along with greater service customization. And, because healthcare will be so intimately tied to the government, consumers can use focus groups and political action to affect change, which would constitute a big difference from the average American’s experience of their health insurance agency now. Eventually, localization of healthcare will cease to exist. This means that nationwide healthcare plans can develop, streamlining and equalizing healthcare everywhere, while making day-to-day implementation simpler for hospitals and health practices.

Even if all of these positive  predictions don’t come to fruition, the ACA is opening doors to larger possibilities. Even though this new system needs more work and detractors comment about the loss of close doctor-patient relationships, implementation will grant the ACA the opportunity to be perfected in the near future.

Instead of engaging in careless political theater at the expense of thousands of businesses and employed Americans, Republicans needs to realize that the ACA will go into effect and will lead to beneficial, progressive changes in the healthcare system. Instead of focusing on its flaws, they should recognize how it improves our current system and paves the way for greater changes in the future.

At the very least, Republicans need to come to terms with the fact that it is not all right to gamble with their constituents’ livelihoods in a flourish of melodramatic politics. Perhaps it’s time they took a real look at the ACA and actually listened to those most closely involved in the daily workings of the healthcare industry. It’s time they listened to their doctors.