Elections are won and lost when a few percentage points of voters shift one way, or the other. When they are with us, we win, when they are not, we lose. So five million people are affected right now, and I think that is low, because I heard on NPR that up to a million in California alone were losing their health plans. Five million votes that are probably going to the other guys in the next election, perhaps as many as ten million votes going to the other guys.
Tell me how we can win with that? Because I'm going to tell you we can't. Doubt me? Democratic Senators are jumping ship and offering all sorts of legislation to try and fix it. They know they can't wait, because they can't win re-election next year if they are seen as the big bad meanies who took away the people's insurance.
Then we're going to hear more about the stories we've already heard whispers about. How many of these plans have limited doctor choices, and then we'll hear how they can't make appointments. My wife had to call six offices before she could find an OB/GYN, and that was three years ago. Imagine how it's going to be when more are in the marketplace. Appointments? Nope, not taking new patients, but thanks for calling.
So the next round of news stories, assuming we ever get past the President Lied meme, will be how expensive these policies are and how you're paying for NOTHING because the legislation did not increase supply, only demand.
That is what we're going to be running on in 2014, and that is what we're going to be fighting against. What do we do? Blame the insurance companies for not having enough doctors? Blame them for being greedy bastards, which they are, and blame students for opting for law school instead of medical school? Blame the Doctors for not choosing general practice and OB/GYN as a field?
In the meantime, the Republicans will be running on this. "We told you there was a problem, we tried to tell you for years that there were real problems with this law, and now our predictions are coming true." Who wins the election? You tell me?
An analogy I used in another thread. If your mechanic screws up your oil change and destroys your engine, do you take the car back to him to get the motor rebuilt? No, you never take anything back to that mechanic. If Democrats are perceived as destroying the Health Care system, even if we are only slightly to blame, it's perception remember, do we really expect the people to continue backing us in the elections?
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