Republican response to Obamacare will cost us

It’s no secret the Affordable Care Act — colloquially known as Obamacare — wasn’t perfect. It succeeded in helping those who weren’t insured, because of preexisting conditions or otherwise. There is an individual mandate, which attempts to decrease the costs brought on by emergency room visits, but it didn’t address the ballooning costs of health care or the fact that the U.S. still has one of the highest numbers for health care spending per capita, according to the World Bank.

Still, the Republican Party’s health care plan takes us back almost a decade when those with preexisting conditions struggled to find an insurer to accept them and birth control didn’t have to be covered. The U.S. was, and still is, spending more money on health care than in countries with a single-payer system, like Denmark and Canada. The health care debate was particularly difficult because, unlike fixing the school system or infrastructure, democrats and republicans were debating whether health care was a problem to be fixed at all. Obamacare didn’t go far enough, but it still managed to benefit women by making insurance cover birth control.

President Donald Trump’s response to Obamacare is just a reaction — it does not come up with any innovative ideas that fix the problem of paying for health care. Although Trump promised continued coverage for preexisting conditions, the lower penalties and higher premiums for older people mean the costs will no longer even out, according to a Steven Rattner opinion piece in The New York Times.

With many politicians, like Florida’s own Marco Rubio, hiding from their constituents to avoid going to town halls, it’s hardly surprising they are not in touch with what it means to be a regular American. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, claimed in an interview with CNN that paying for health care is as simple as not getting the newest iPhone. As California’s lieutenant governor pointed out, skipping an iPhone upgrade will hardly make a dent in the average annual health care cost of $10,345. Having health insurance doesn’t mean you can go to the doctor whenever you want — you still must consider your deductible, which physicians are covered by your plan, and numerous other factors.

The truth is that health care isn’t like other goods or services. Most people don’t shop around for the prices of an X-ray like they would for the price of a new car. If you ask for a price on a laptop, you expect a straight answer (without tax). In contrast, if you asked the front desk at the doctor’s office how much it would cost to get a hepatitis B vaccination, you would have to argue with them, and then wait for upward of 30 minutes while they figure out the price. People don’t drive from doctor to doctor waiting for the lowest price. Cheapness in medical care evokes images of the TV series “Botched,” where patients often come in because they decided to get cut-rate plastic surgery that needs to be fixed.

Choice sounds great on an individual level, where customers can decide exactly what level of coverage they want. But this is no more than a Band-Aid on the wound that is the American health care system. According to CNN, Americans pay two to six times more for their drugs than the rest of the world. Costs make health care inaccessible to many, and this will continue under the Republican Party’s plan.

Nicole Dan is a UF political science and journalism junior. Her column appears on Mondays.