Health care: Keep close eye on Obamacare; and watch out for the spin

They said they made the deadline and that the site is now ready to sign up hundreds of thousands of eager insurance buyers.

And it might be -- although tech experts who have looked at it are not quite sure.

But as the controversy continues over the actual implementation of the Affordable Care Act, beware. This administration has absolutely no problem only telling the half of the truth it wants you to hear.

For example, a great number of those signing up for the Affordable Care Act health plans are being asked to pay more -- and to take on coverage they do not need.

Also, many of those who are successfully signing up on the system are not choosing the paid option, but are choosing Medicaid instead. What does that mean? It means that they will be accepting free care that someone else has to pay for. Want to guess what happens if too many people do that and no one pays the premiums to support Obamacare?

There needs to be a discussion about health care in this country -- and it needs to focus on making sure that affordable care is available to those who cannot get it.

And perhaps it might mean we taxpayers, in part, will have to contribute to such an effort.

But this mishandled, muddled piece of legislation that is already not working is not the answer -- and we need to keep a close eye on those who tout it as the solution to every health care concern this country faces.

There are too many unanswered questions and too many people who seem to be throwing good money after bad.

And all the spin in the world is not going to change the basic construct of Obamacare -- if young, healthy people do not take on the cost of coverage they do not need or want, the whole system will fail because there will be no one to pay the bills.

It is as simple as that -- no matter how many billions of dollars you spend on commercials and a public relations campaign.

Published in Editorials on December 5, 2013 10:51 AM