Fight Over Obamacare Just Starting

While the healthcare bill is a huge political victory for Obama, it may not be so for his party. The Democrats hope health reform hostilities are calmed down or forgotten by November, but few expect this will be the case.

To Canadians, the healthcare legislation that is now (or soon will be) law in the U.S. is no big deal.

We’ve had universal health coverage for years, and even those who initially adamantly opposed it when first  introduced in Saskatchewan, have long since accepted it and moved on to other issues.

Still, even to blasé Canadians, it seems curious that under President Barack Obama’s somewhat adulterated health plan, a citizen will in effect be breaking the law if he/she doesn’t buy health insurance -- and likewise for an insurance company that refuses to sell coverage to an individual.

That policy seems fraught with future problems.

Of course, Canada’s health plan is government-operated, which is not the case (yet) in the U.S. When universal coverage was first introduced in Canada some doctors even went on strike. Emotions were at fever pitch, which seems weird looking back, now that the country is conditioned to what is depicted as “free” healthcare (which it isn’t, but accounts for Canada’s high tax rate).

Removing abortions from healthcare reform, probably saved the day for Obama. For the time being. In Canada, abortions are funded by medicare. While not all Canadian hospitals perform abortions, 65% of abortions in Canada are done in hospitals, with the remainder done in both public and private clinics.

Although legal, controversy still seethes about abortion, but in a discreet, somewhat muted Canadian way, and not at lung-top as in the U.S.

A difference between the two countries is that Canadians were probably more sanguine about universal healthcare when it was introduced than Americans are today.  “Socialism” isn’t the specter in Canada (unfortunately) as it is in the U.S.

While the healthcare bill is a huge political victory for Obama, it may not be so for Democrats come the November mid-term elections. Polls show the majority of Americans don’t want Obamacare, which may result in Republican votes in November.

Remember, mid-term elections attract some 40% of eligible voters -- while Presidential elections attract 60% -- and the 40% are those who feel strongly. The anti-faction.

Democrats hope health reform hostilities are calmed down or forgotten by November, but few expect this will be the case. Even huge Democratic losses in Congress won’t undo the legislation, which will be controversial for years.

What’s unusual is that political support for healthcare legislation is fully partisan --  only Democrats support it – while opposition is bi-partisan with all Republicans and a lot of Democrats opposed to it, as are a majority of Americans.

That doesn’t sound very democratic, and it isn’t. It is Big Brother knowing better and imposing something on an unwilling country. It is more mindful of authoritarian regimes than democratic ones.

One reality beyond dispute is the lowball estimate of healthcare reform costing only $940 billion. No way. Costs will skyrocket - they always do with government estimates. That means higher taxes.

Another oddity is that before the legislation, Americans were largely convinced theirs was the best healthcare system in the world (just as we Canadians are brainwashed into thinking ours is, even though patients die while waiting for operations).

Why change something that the people were so content with? That’s a good question the Obamans have difficulty answering  - except that they know better.