Let's get a couple of things straight. I'm not talking about a new name for Obamacare because its actual contents are more popular than the name itself, which is what Kathleen Sebelius (remember her?) said last December when she suggested that the program needs rebranding. I'm simply thinking long-term.
Who knows what our healthcare system will look like in 2045? I'd like to think we'd have some form of single-payer, universal coverage. But let's say we don't, and that we still have some version of the healthcare exchanges, the premium subsidies for lower-income Americans, and the other basic elements of healthcare reform contained in the Affordable Care Act. Could you imagine, 30 years after President Obama left office, that people will still be talking about getting health insurance through "Obamacare?" Anyone who has read my posts knows that I think this president has had a strongly positive impact on our country's direction, so it's not like I'd be offended to do so. It would just be, well, odd.
There is a part of me that would like to see the name continued, if only to remind people just who is responsible for the benefits they are receiving. But to be realistic, having a program in 2045 whose name references a president first elected in 2008 would just sound dated, old-fashioned, like yesterday's news.
In the 2012 campaign, on the other hand, I thought it was brilliant for the president to reclaim the name Obamacare from his Republican opponents. For example, a month before the election, he turned the tables on them, declaring: "They call it Obamacare? I do care! You should care, too," and later the same day adding: "Folks go around saying Obamacare. That’s right—I care. That’s their main agenda? That’s your plank? .... Making sure 30 million people don’t have health insurance?" He was rightfully proud to embrace his signature domestic policy achievement.
President Obama has said that he has "no more campaigns to run." So the question becomes what makes sense in terms of the program's name going forward. Here's what I propose:
Americare
Got you thinking? I hope so. Please follow me beyond the fold for more.
from Daily Kos http://ift.tt/1zyDtKb
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