The Supreme Court and Healthcare

So in a surprise that wouldn't have been a surprise at all a few months ago, the Supreme Court upheld "Obamacare" and the mandate. The "hero" here appears to be Roberts, who went against his conservative brethren and affirmed the limitations of the court in overturning the will of the people (kind of). So now what will happen with healthcare? Well, according to estimates the now 60 million without insurance will fall to 30 million by 2022. That is great news, but still lives 30 million uninsured. People cannot be denied coverage for preexisting conditions, which is just as important. But the issue of costs continues to be a big stumbling block to actually solving our continuing healthcare crisis. And it will only get worse. The population is aging, youth obesity is on the rise and people are living longer in general. An article in Slate today outlines the deeper problems Obama was unable to fully address in his landmark legislation: Slate.

At the heart of the problem, really, is economics. Too many people in America are paid too little, even as corporate profits hit another record high and productivity increases (aka labor) continue to contribute to the windfall for the few. Costs are not controlled because corporations still yield too much power over policy, even when our lives are on the lines. And too many Americans are unemployed or underemployed. Sure many of the uninsured are young, but they actually help insurance companies if they are insured, as their premiums help offset those more likely to get sick. Poverty leads to sickness and we have the highest poverty rate of any industrialized country (as well as the highest healthcare costs by a country mile). Pharmaceutical companies contribute as well, by charging outrageous prices for new drugs and keeping patents (and blocking generics) well beyond acceptable rates. In the end, socialized medicine is really the only answer, unless we decide the premise of In Time will move from clever metaphor for inequality and exploitation to reality ...