Reading the WSJ editorial on ObamaCare today, it occurred to me that we may very well be bearing witness to the most epic crash-and-burn of big government politics in this nation’s history. Many have been warning that a government takeover of 1/7th of the nation’s economy is fraught with danger, but those are just words. The stark realities associated with the launch of ACA are taking us past the “words” stage into “oh shit” territory.
We’ve barely begun to understand the changes that ObamaCare will make in health care and health insurance. So far, the mandates and cancellations are limited to people who didn’t have employer-provided health insurance. Even with that minority of the market, chaos is ensuing, and not just from the epic incompetence and blind arrogance that gave us a non-functioning website and hard deadlines for enrolling.
Insurers are going to be smashed on the rocks, coverage is going to tank, hospitals and health care professionals aren’t going to get paid, people will be trapped out of insurance – and all before the large majority of the nation even begins to feel the effects of this mess.
The administration is playing political CYA, by moving next year’s enrollment startup past the election. This is disgustingly contemptuous of the citizenry. It may not be enough. Companies need time to get their ducks in order, thus the cancellation notices weeks and months in advance of rollout. A smart company will ensure that its notices for the next wave go out before the election, because no matter what pressure the administration brings on them to toe the line, they must realize that toeing the line means their demise.
I still think that some expected ObamaCare to fail from the get-go, but I don’t think the President did. I think he truly believed and believes that his “make it so” decrees are all it takes to make it all work. That’s what happens when you surround a giant ego with sycophants and yes-men. And, when running a campaign, where the only metrics you have to face are how much money you’ve raised and whether you win a vote, you can get pretty far. The hard reality of actual governance is a different matter.
Dem congressmen in vulnerable districts are likely in full-blown panic right now, and a few of them are breaking party unity enough to show that panic to the public. There will be calls for action, for delays or modifications. There may even be calls for going single-payer, although I think those will happen after the next election, presuming the Dems don’t suffer a bloodbath akin to 1994 or 2010. It’ll take a whole lot of damage control and a WHOLE lot of outright lying by the MSM to avoid that, though.
Something has to give in all of this. If this is the “bottom” of the nation’s addiction to big government, there’ll be a shift of power, both in Congress and within the GOP, with liberty movement politicians coming to the fore. If people still hang onto their delusions regarding big government nannyism and a “gimme mine” culture, we’re going to get adjustments, delays and tweaks, and after the mid-terms there will be a push to institute single-payer. We’ll be told to get used to the “new normal,” all for the common good, of course. That will mark the end of this grand experiment in limited government and the true transformation of this nation into a moribund Old Europe clone. I fear the latter is more likely, but I haven’t given up hope for the former.
Meanwhile, I offer three bits of advice.
1 – Sit back, watch the implosion, and don’t gloat over your liberal friends’ consternations.
2 – Channel Kevin Bacon at the end of Animal House.
3 – Don’t get sick for the next few years.
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