Obamacare: A collapse of the Progressive Movement

by Zach Moore

Since 2009, Bill and Hillary Clinton have piggy-backed off of President Obama’s attempt to build a progressive platform for a liberal America. For obvious reasons, this is something that the Clintons feasted off of. Why did they do this? Hillary would love a bid in 2016. Moreover, they saw an opportunity to take advantage of progressive America; a system of big, careless government that is in control of dependent individuals. You see, President Obama has created this dependent America, not for reasons of sympathy in which he tries to display, but for strictly politically motivated ideals. If the majority of Americans are dependent on the Democratic Party to feed them out of their hands, they are never going to vote against them.

So what do the Clintons do? They endorse Obamacare. Believing it would be a success, they knew that Americans who enroll would be dependent on Hillary getting elected in order for their “free” care to continue. Therefore, sadly, they believed it would be a sure win for the Democratic Party in 2016. This is just another clear example of the left taking advantage of progressive America, as they use it as nothing but political leverage. This can be seen clearly as Bill Clinton endorsed the Affordable Care Act in September of this year, again as a mere attempt to get his beloved wife elected.

Was this a successful strategy? Of course not. Obamacare was a dismal failure just as many people in the United States expected. In addition, Bill and Hilary Clinton endorsed an individual who lied to the faces of American people on multiple occasions. To be precise, President Obama stated, “If you like your health care plan you can keep it....period”. This, as agreed upon by the majority of Americans is not only deceptive, but an outright lie. Bottom line is, the Clintons endorsed a now perceived liar. They tarnished their reputation (even further), and President Obama quickly became a political liability to their campaign. So what do they do? They run from the disaster and distance themselves from President Obama.

Today, October 12, 2013, Bill Clinton decided to make his distance well known to the American people by saying, “I personally believe, even if it takes a change in the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made to these people and let them keep what they got." Hold on a second Bill, during many speeches you attended and endorsed, the president contradicted what you just said. Did you raise a red flag then? No. Even though you knew it was wrong, you let it go all in a mere attempt to deceive the American people just at the president did. If anyone in the world thinks this revelation of Clinton’s beliefs on the Affordable Care Act is anything more than an attempt to run as far from President Obama and the Affordable Care Act as possible, they are completely wrong.

Bottom line is President Obama has become a political liability to anyone in the Democratic Party who supported the Affordable Care Act. Even further, his presidency and the Affordable Care Act is a ticking time bomb that will surely destroy the reputation of his supporters in government. Thanks to him, Republicans now have a very distinct opportunity to lay this “progressive” movement to rest for many decades to come. So, from all Republicans in America, thank you Mr. President for proving that your “landmark” legislation was in fact, a total disaster.

On the Medical Device Tax

by Zach Moore

A part of the "First Word, Last Word" column on the The Voice
Originally published on 10/31/13 and available here: http://www.buvoice.com/opinion/2013/10/31/first-word-last-word.html

(Advisor's note: this submission was required to be "about 500 words", but the subsequent rebuttal from a writer of The Voice totaled 637 words)

Since the beginning of Barack Obama’s presidency, an image has been painted for the American people of a universal, problem-free health care system that offers affordable or even “free” care. Based on the president’s rhetoric, one would believe that there is a magic money tree placed in the north lawn of the White House that miraculously drops leaves of one hundred dollar bills right into the pockets of Obamacare. Although this sounds excellent and the president somehow has fooled many Americans into believing this fairy tale, it is far from the case. An American who thinks based on logic understands the sad truth and reality, which is that President Obama has drafted a piece of legislation that is destroying the economy. Where does $60.1 billion of funding for the Affordable Care Act come from over the next decade? Sorry, not from the money tree the president is hiding from us all, but from the all too familiar 2.3% medical device tax.

Pacemakers: About to be way more $$$

Before jumping into the medical device disaster that the president has pursued, I believe it is important for readers to understand the importance this industry has in health care. Pacemakers, chemotherapy and defibrillators, just to name a few, are products that the medical device industry is responsible for. In order to produce and sell these products, research and development is key. A 2.3% tax on all revenues now significantly threatens the ability of this industry to devote money to innovate new products that could save lives.

Although many understand the effects on price and demand based on tax rates, it is obvious that the president does not. It is common sense for one to know what happens when tax rates increase on the revenues of a company: The price of goods go up in order to counter act the lost revenue. Therefore, what the president said would be more affordable, actually becomes less affordable. The price of medical devices goes up, therefore, making health care less affordable than it was before. What happens when these prices increase? Sales decrease, leading to a downward spiral of demand and lost revenues for one of the largest employers in the U.S.

Currently, according to the Wall Street Journal, the medical device industry employs 400,000 U.S workers directly, and another two million through supply and distribution. A 2.3% tax on this industry threatens many of these employees’ jobs. By cutting revenues by $6.7 billion annually, companies simply will not have the ability to maintain the size of their workforce. This is seen already, as, according to the Wall Street Journal, medical device companies have cut their workforce by 10% in order to brace for the impact.

This frivolous tax is something that the people of this country can not continue to ignore, nor can we as American’s continue to fall victim to the blinding image of something the president portrays as being free. Funding $60.1 billion comes from somewhere, and in this case it comes from thousands of lost jobs, increased costs for consumers, and irretrievable innovation that could have potentially saved lives.