Obamacare...End the Hyperbole or we will all DIE!!!!!

Hyperbole happens to be one of my favorite terms to teach students.  It is fun to say.  The examples can be very enjoyable.  It can be effective when you use it in moderation.  If you overuse it, however, you come off sound dishonest and a bit of a crackpot.  Today's politics are full of hyperbole (okay, there has always been a lot of hyperbole in politics, but lately it seems to have gotten out of hand).  Obamacare is one of those issues that when examined logically, comes off as many improvements to the current system, but with some flaws.  You know, "you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life."  That is one of the great aspects of the government established by our Founding Fathers and supported by Miss Garrett.

Recently District six Senator Ernie Otten posted a link to an article about Ohio insurance rates increasing 88%.  I don't how Ernie Otten plans to overturn a federal law (other than make sure not to expand medicare that will help insure hundreds if not thousands of constituents in his district), but at least he has some clear form of communication not offered by the other representatives.  It turns out that a Republican based insurance office declared that rates will go up 88% for Ohio citizens.  It turns out that if you focus on the details, the increases will impact only a very small amount and many people will see a decrease in insurance.  It turns out the study used plans that include a $25,000 deductible available to a male under 25 for $29 month.  A Cleveland Plain Dealer article exposes the problems with this study:

But there are three problems with examples like these, analysts said. First, Gmeiner said that one insurance broker she spoke with did not even sell such a low-cost policy as the first one Taylor cited for a 25-year-old male. 

Second, the substantially higher prices in 2014 will be offset with subsidies for many buyers, depending on their incomes.

The third problem illustrates the biggest difference in viewpoints.  The high deductibles made these terrible policies, health care advocates said. Yet such policies are often the only kind available to people with preexisting conditions. That will change under Obamacare. 

Discussing policies that have $10,000 deductibles and almost certainly require much higher premiums the following year if a person gets sick and actually files claims, Gary Claxton, a vice president at the Kaiser foundation, observed, “It’s not really what we should be calling health insurance.”

Obamacare will not be the end of life as we know it, Obamacare will not kill everyone, and Obamacare will not solve the health and financial problems in this country.  If we end the hyperbole, we can begin to explore real methods to improve lives of citizens.