Healthcare needs overhaul, not ACA

I read with great interest Dr. Jason Cohen’s recent letter to the editor: “Discussion Points of the Future of the Affordable Care Act.” One of the most damaging forces in the universe is the illusion that expensive things can be had if we just want them bad enough. People often buy college educations, automobiles, and homes that the rational person can see are outside the realm of financial possibility, but the excitement of owning the shiny new thing often short circuits the brain just long enough for a family to destroy its financial future for a generation. That is exactly what we are witnessing with the ironically named “Affordable Care Act.”

Like the ski boat salesman encouraging an excited family to buy with funds they don’t have, Dr. Cohen is selling us a health care policy we can’t afford. I concede many of the things the ACA intended to accomplish are admirable (unlimited lifetime coverages for everyone, no exclusions for pre-existing conditions, low or no cost to the poor, increased medical coverage in sparsely populated areas, required coverage of health screenings, free birth control, substance abuse counseling); unfortunately, they are not economically possible from a centrally planned bureaucracy like the ACA.

Good people like Dr. Cohen are claiming the law is a resounding success. They state that millions of people who once were denied health insurance because of pre-existing conditions or expensive premiums now have access to it. What the ACA’s supporters don’t admit is that millions of other Americans are rapidly finding health insurance so unaffordable they and/or their employers are dropping coverages due to its unaffordability. Because of the problem of adverse selection, insurance programs don’t survive when unhealthy, expensive people sign up by the millions at the same time millions of healthy, inexpensive people stop paying their premiums.

While it is true the American healthcare system is in need of a complete overhaul, the Affordable Care Act is not the answer. Due to the immutable economic laws of adverse selection and supply and demand, the ACA, is failing financially. When the ACA does fail, I hope we learn from our mistakes and consider using free market solutions — such as those provided by healthcare sharing ministries and cash-only surgical clinics — that have reduced prices and increased quality and access wherever free markets have been allowed to operate. The private insurance/government partnership model is incapable of delivering on its promises, and it is now time to let the Affordable Care Act die with dignity before it financially cripples us.

Joseph D. Coco Jr., Whitefish