On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (known colloquially as “ObamaCare”), declaring that the law would enshrine “the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health care.”1 But, for reasons I have elaborated in previous articles in TOS, far from establishing security regarding Americans’ health care, this new law will make quality health care harder to come by and more expensive for everyone. Unfortunately, until our politicians rediscover the principle of individual rights, choose to uphold it, and reverse this monstrosity of a law, we Americans are stuck with it and will have to cope the best we can.
So, what can you do in this new era of “change” to preserve your access to quality health care?
Although it is impossible to avoid the harmful effects of ObamaCare entirely, if you plan wisely and act accordingly you can minimize its effects on you and maximize your chances of receiving quality health care in the future. Toward that end, I offer the following four strategies, two of which pertain directly to your personal arrangements for health care, and two of which pertain to intellectual and political activism. . . .
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Endnotes
1 Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Robert Pear, “Obama Signs Health Care Overhaul Bill, With a Flourish,” New York Times, March 23, 2010.
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2 Christian Wernstedt, “Guidelines For Survival Under Socialized Medicine,” We Stand FIRM blog, November 10, 2009; accessed at http://www.westandfirm.org/blog/2009/11/guidelines-for-survival-under.html.
3 Martin Feldstein, “ObamaCare Is All About Rationing,” Wall Street Journal, August 18, 2009.
4 Betsy McCaughey, “ObamaCare vs. the Constitution,” New York Post, January 6, 2010.
5 Ari Armstrong, “Health and the Empowerment of Payment,” FreeColorado.com blog, October 2, 2009, accessed at http://www.freecolorado.com/2009/10/health-and-empowerment-of-payment.html.
6 Morgan Lewis Jr., “How to Run a Cash-Only Practice and Thrive,” Modern Medicine, January 22, 2010, accessed at http://www.modernmedicine.com/modernmedicine/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=652945.
7 “The End of HSAs,” Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2009.
8 “ObamaCare Survivor,” Investor’s Business Daily, March 30, 2010.
9 Steven Knope, “What is Concierge Medicine?” accessed at http://www.conciergemedicinemd.com/knope-concierge-medicine.htm.
10 Steven Knope, “The Six Myths of Concierge Medicine,” accessed at http://www.conciergemedicinemd.com/knope-6myths.htm.
11 cf. Walecia Conrad, “Going Abroad to Find Affordable Health Care,” New York Times, March 20, 2009.
12 Julie Davidow, “Cost-saving Surgery Lures ‘Medical Tourists’ Abroad,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 24, 2006.
13 Rob Stein, “Breast Exam Guidelines Now Call for Less Testing,” Washington Post, November 17, 2009; “Can Breast Cancer Be Found Early?” American Cancer Society, September 19, 2009, accessed at http://www.cancer.org/docroot/cri/content/cri_2_4_3x_can_breast_cancer_be_found_early_5.asp; Wendie Berg et al., “Frequently Asked Questions about Mammography and the USPSTF Recommendations: A Guide for Practitioners,” Society of Breast Imaging, December 11, 2009, accessed at http://www.sbi-online.org/associations/8199/files/Detailed_Response_to_USPSTF_Guidelines-12-11-09-Berg.pdf.
14 “American Cancer Society Responds to Changes to USPSTF Mammography Guidelines,” November 16, 2009, accessed at http://www.cancer.org/docroot/MED/content/MED_2_1x_American_Cancer_Society_Responds_to_Changes_to_USPSTF_Mammography_Guidelines.asp.
15 Paul Hsieh, “Mandatory Health Insurance: Wrong for Massachusetts, Wrong for America,” The Objective Standard, Fall 2008.
16 Steffie Woolhandler and David U. Himmelstein, “Health Reform Failure,” Boston Globe, September 17, 2007.
17 Paul Hsieh, “Health Care in Massachusetts: A Warning for America,” Christian Science Monitor, September 30, 2009; Michael Tanner, “Massachusetts Miracle or Massachusetts Miserable: What the Failure of the “Massachusetts Model” Tells Us about Health Care Reform,” Cato Briefing Paper no. 112, June 9, 2009.
18 Eamonn Butler, “Believers in Free Markets Are Fighting Back,” Times, March 9, 2009.
19 Phil Gramm, “Resistance is Not Futile,” Wall Street Journal, March 25, 2010.
20 John Mackey, “The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare,” Wall Street Journal, August 11, 2009.
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