I think I'll wait and see what happens. For now I'm going to support it - because flawed or not, the bill provides health insurance for millions of people. While I realize that insurance does not equal health care, it is better than having nothing, which is what I and many others have now. At 27, I'm just over the age where my parents insurance would cover me, I'm hoping I'll be able to get vouchers or something, because as someone with both parents working for a hospital.. I know how much health care costs. No one without a great deal of money can afford regular treatment for any serious illness without some kind of coverage. As someone who has a serious illness (though not life threatening) this rather screws me. If I become chronically ill I have little choice but to go to the ER - as for follow up care? Forget it. For a while I let it slide, kept going to my family physician, to a therapist... and eventually I ended up thousands of dollars in debt.
Health insurance would be great, if it enables me and many others to receive any kind of treatment. Just how adequate it may be I don't know... but honestly, I'll take what I can get, mandate or not. It is entirely likely that I'll be either poor or working class for the rest of my life, entirely unlikely that I'll ever be one of those individuals that can afford to pay out of pocket. So I'll take what I can get.
If that ends up being very little.. it's better than what I have now. If ACA is flawed, perhaps it can be altered in time to be improved. Perhaps it will screw us all in the end, but I'm thinking about right now, about next year, or the next ten years.
Would I prefer single payer or a solid public option? Hell yes - but we aren't going to get one right now. Let's stick with what we've got and fight that battle when we're better prepared.
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