Obamacare Hurts the Generation It Claims to Help

If there is one signature piece of legislation from former President Obama’s tenure, most of us would agree that it was the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. Obamacare seemed like a great idea at the time. Finally, every American would have health coverage, and, as Obama promised, if you liked your current doctor and plan, you can keep them. It was to be a win-win for everyone. Obama also claimed that his legislation would drive annual healthcare costs down on average $2500 a year.

But it turns out that this was all a lie. The government’s goal was to expand its control and to expand the welfare state. Millions lost their doctors and plans, and premium costs are skyrocketing. Deductibles are so high that visiting the doctor isn’t worth the cost. Millennials looking for jobs, if they couldn’t afford insurance before, surely cannot possibly afford it now.

In addition, many full-time jobs are cutting back hours to become part-time, in order to not have to offer health benefits, thereby saving employers money, but employees lose access to employer health insurance.

Finally, the federal budget and state budgets are imploding from health-care spending. Spending for Obamacare and Medicaid are soaring, and, according to Mark Levin in his 2015 book Plunder and Deceit, our millennial generation will eventually have to pay back Obamacare’s debt.

Now that we have a new president in Donald Trump, who promised to repeal and replace Obamacare, what is the best option to implement a better system that can help all Americans, without these negative effects?

According to The Daily Signal, congressional Republicans, led by House Speaker Paul Ryan, are advocating a plan that embraces free market principles and freedom to choose the health plan that best benefits the consumer, while consumers keep more of their hard-earned income. The plan would allow consumers to buy insurance in any state they choose, which will enhance competition throughout the states, giving incentive to lower costs and enhance the plans’ quality. The plan would also allow anyone to purchase the best plans for their own specific health needs.

The reason that this is important for millennials specifically is that millennials are generally more healthy than older people. Younger people are normally more fit and wouldn’t have to buy a one-size-fits-all plan that would cover procedures that young people almost never will need, such as prostate exams for example, which would lower the cost of insurance as well.

However, there has been speculation that Congress does not want to repeal Obamacare at all. Many Senators and Congressmen, such as Senators Susan Collins and Bill Cassidy of Maine and Louisiana, respectively, are coming up with ideas that don’t repeal most of the law, and President Trump claims it may take until 2018 to fully repeal it. But I fully believe it will be repealed and that Trump has every intention of carrying out this promise.

The disastrous legislation of Obamacare affects everyone, it may hurt millennials the most. Millennials, more than anyone else, need freedom to choose and less financial burdens. Financial hardship is common enough for millennials who cannot find a job. Obamacare doesn’t need to make the hardship worse by preventing these people from affording insurance. We should do what we can to make sure the next generation is ready for the workforce and isn’t weighed down by draconian taxes and regulations. That is the only way our country will continue to prosper and our health system can finally be fixed and great for all.