Well one year ago this week, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law.
And, in the last 12 months-despite promises to the contrary-we still haven't found out everything that's in it. Since the Secretary still has not filled in all the blanks- as if this legislation were some sort of Federal Mad Lib.
We've seen at least half a dozen lawsuits, with as many rulings as plaintiffs, and no clear resolution in sight. And, after all of that, I'm not sure we've seen that many patients "protected" and we've certainly not seen any more "affordable" care.
We've also seen Congressional Democrats endure a midterm beating the likes of which we haven't seen since Clinton decided to pass his own (Welfare) reform. What we have also seen is a public still split over the law; clearly opposed to the individual mandate clause, but without it, the entire thing falls apart, making even less sense than it already does.
Meanwhile, we have a President who believed so much in this legislation last year he insisted on shoving it through Congress, and now we've seen more waivers - and wavering - than an office fantasy football league.
Last week I had the privilege of attending a Chamber of Commerce dinner where the guest speaker was the Vice President of a local hospital. In his speech he mentioned that he has yet to meet any Congressman who has read the 2,500 page report that outlines the details. It still amazes me that this is a fact. He also stated in his speech that he had no idea how this health care reform was going to work.
If you believed in this so much, at least stand by it, and I can respect your ideas and resolve. Otherwise, you're just another slick politician more beholden to polls than principals. And not unlike the host of federal regulations that hangs over our heads, we already have more than enough of those.
Tom
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