Last year before the elections, two Conservative women were watching my daughter and me prepare a CNN iReport on policies affecting students and Americans in general. The two women above were interested in what we were doing and when asked said they had something to say.
This morning MSNBC Chuck Todd assessed that the Obama Presidency using the Republican moniker of Obamacare for the Affordable Care Act while cute was stupid. Todd vastly underestimates the success of the Republicans in promoting that name so much so that most Americans immediately identify with the Obamacare as opposed to the Affordable Care Act.
When asked about the Affordable Care Act the women above were completely oblivious to it. When told it was Obamacare they immediately knew what I was talking about and said they did not know it by that name. The two women interviewed are probative.
If these women understood that Obamacare forced insurance companies to use at least 80% of their premiums to pay for healthcare cost, prevent insurance companies from rescinding their policies when they most needed it most, provide breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and other health screenings as part of every policy, prevent lifetime caps that likely prevent most medical bankruptcies, and ensure that everybody have skin in the healthcare domain who can afford it, would they think differently? Would they think differently when they realize that pre-Obamacare the wild wild west of medical insurance was more about profits than health outcomes? When the morality of America’s healthcare system pre and post Obamacare is examined, many of those opposing will be ashamed of their opposing stance.
The interview went well and just talking to them gives me hope that when the truth is spoken and respect is acquired, people can agree on real truths.
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It makes me sad and sick at heart that these two women are so ignorant. I don’t even know what the answer to fixing this is because these women clearly don’t understand reality. I also get the feeling that they are clouded by their home lives. What I mean by that is they do not understand that an individual home’s budget is vastly different to that of the nation’s because they seem incapable of seeing beyond their own noses.
I agree. And I’m pretty sure they don’t realize that Reagan tripled the debt and W doubled it and that deficit spending has been generally higher under GOP presidents……
They don’t even know what they initially said means!
They do not seem to know that the Affordable Care Act will reduce costs for them and the one woman’s husband’s business. Plus the ACA is more cost effective for the government than the current system. It was very telling that they do not even know the current system and costs associated with their current insurance coverage. I only wish you would have asked them the questions and acknowledged what they do support in the act as you mentioned in the video that you would.
I so admire Egoberto Willies for his patience, friendly way of talking, and respect for all people regardless of how ignorant they are. Bless your work.
Does the woman know that (unless she is on state aid) she doesn’t GET her insurance from her state? What ignorance.
Great even handed treatment.
Whoever the interviewer is, he’s an incredibly patient, open, good-heated, and even-handed person. Bless him. If only the rest of us were so. Clearly, he is no Conservative. (Plus his accent is adorable.)
Wow. These two lovely women are kind of repeating everything that is stated on Fox News. Unfortunately most people are not seeing this with a historical perspective. I work in Health Care, and parts of Obama Care have really increased my workload and made it somewhat onerous. When we first instituted Medicare/Medicaid…it was also kind of a big mess- but after we worked out many of the problems, things were much much better for certain populations of people. It’s an uncomfortable situation right now…but if we can bear with it and work with it…we’re going to ALL be better in a few years. What’s even worse is that these women are not at all anomalies, they represent what I hear from a great deal of people who identify themselves as conservative.
Unless they have changed it recently the MLR requirement (% required to be spent on “medical costs” under Obamacare) is 85%.
85% for corporate plans 80% for individuals.
I sent a letter to my senator asking her to quit calling the Affordable Care Act Obamacare because it is disrespectful and that I expect her to be a role model. She doesn’t have to like the program, but she is required to show respect. She is a moderate Republican who relies on independents and Democrats to be elected.
I would love to see others send their elected officials similar letters in their states.
I suspect that years from now the term “Obamacare” will have lost its negative connotation and that opponents may regret letting the term immortalize the two-term president who finally got some kind of healthcare initiative in place.