The failure of Republicans to repeal Obamacare prompted me to write the following letter to the editor of my local newspaper, and it was coincidentally printed the day after a 60 Minutes" show aired making the same point as me that the Obamacare penalty remains in force:
When taxes come due April 15, I bet many taxpayers will be extremely upset after finding out they owe thousands of dollars in tax penalties to the Internal Revenue Service because they did not sign up for Obamacare this year, based on the false promises it would be repealed by President Trump and Republican legislators.
In my experience, the IRS is legally bound to follow the Obamacare law until either Congress or a tax court ruling changes it.
Yes, I heard firsthand Trump verbally promise to issue an Executive Order, but my tax advisor is unable to find a legally issued copy, nor obtain a statement from the IRS how they will enforce the Obamacare penalty.
President Obama and Democrats are equally guilty of making false promises, for example, an age 60-65 years old family member was not allowed to keep a $136 per month Lifewise health plan, as promised by Obama, but worse, in order to keep seeing a longtime Corvallis doctor, as also promised, the cheapest Obamacare plan costs an unaffordable $659 per month for 2017, or $579 by changing to a Salem doctor.
I am sick of Obamacare boosters telling me I am wrong by disingenuously quoting only the much cheaper Obamacare rates available only to younger people.
(Quoted from Thomas Kraemer, "Letter: Broken promises on Obamacare," Gazette-Times, gazettetimes.com posted Oct. 9, 2017 (also see Link to previous Thomas Kraemer Gazette-Times Letters)
See previous post Oregon Obamacare final rates and Republican's Health Savings Accounts proposal is not insurance (12/19/16) and Obamacare rates in Oregon hurt many voters just in time for the Presidential election (10/8/16), in which I quoted a good letter to the editor by Kim Wilson, "Letter: The root problem with insurance," Gazette-Times, Oct. 11, 2016, p. A7 gazettetimes.com posted Oct. 8, 2016, who mentioned the proposed Obamacare rates and made the case that the demand for healthcare is inelastic, because everyone wants to live at all costs, and the supply of healthcare is limited, therefore basic economic theories predict the cost should go towards infinity.
An interesting idea for healthcare financing was described in an opinion column by Paul F. deLespinasse, "As I See It: Make health care a regulated utility," Gazette-Times, Sep. 28, 2017, p. A6 (also published online as Paul F. deLespinasse, "Time to Regulate the Med-Pharma Complex Like a Utility," newsmax.com posted Sep. 26, 2017).
I agree with his premise that regulation would be one way to control heathcare costs, but this would not solve the problem of how would society ration healthcare, which is a politically incorrect way to say it because it sounds so mean and ugly, but ultimately essential because there is an inelastic demand for healthcare -- if someone had a pill to cure me, then I owuld be willing to pay anything for it.
As an investor in utility companies, I fully appreciate why utilities are regulated monopolies, however what is different with health care from the demand for utility services is the fact that a person does not have an infinite demand for electricity. However, most people have an infinite demand for medical care that would save their life, because most people would be willing to pay anything to live longer.
The author of the above opinion piece is today a Corvallis resident, Paul F. deLespinasse (see his "Biography," newsmax.com accessed Sep. 29, 2017), who was a Professor at Adrian College, located in Michigan and a private, co-educational college of liberal arts and sciences related to the United Methodist Church. He writes regular opinion pieves for my local newspaper.
Another letter by Nadine Sandbo, "Letter: Profits shouldn't drive health care," Gazette-Times, Oct. 1, 2017, makes the point "Prevention is not the focus, profits are," which I agree with, but don't think more prevention would solve the problem of inelastic demand.
