Thursday, March 14, 2013

How Helpless Are We?

As we continue to "find out what's in" the Affordable Care Act, even the most staunch supporters of the measure are finding more and more to dislike.  The latest concern is that the application form for federally subsidized health coverage will be "too hard" for people to fill out.

The printed copy of the application is a "whopping" 15-pages--while the on-line process includes an "excruciating" 21 questions.  It's difficulty rating matches that of filling out your income taxes--which is ironic, since the vast majority of those who will benefit from the ObamaCare vouchers will be among the 47-percent of Americans that pay NO FEDERAL INCOME TAXES. 

But folks like those at the advocacy group Families USA fear that having such an "arduous" application process will cause people to give up--leaving them still without health care coverage.  I'm sure Families USA would prefer that the application process be a single question:

 Would you like free health care?

Yes

Please circle your choice.

Of course, the form would have to be printed in 53 different languages because we can't expect someone to know English.  And it would probably be too "demanding" to require everyone to go to a government office or the mailbox to get one--so Health and Human Services should hire tens of thousands of people to comb the streets and to go door-to-door to make sure that not only does everyone get an application literally put into their hands, but that they also fill it out and return it to the proper agency--just like the Census Bureau had to do to make sure "everyone got counted" back in 2010.

Perhaps people like Families USA and all of the other bleeding hearts who believe that requiring the slightest bit of effort to receive entitlement benefits is "unfair"--as well as those who find answering 21 questions "too hard"--should consider the words of entrepreneur Ryan Blair:

"If it is important to you, you will find a way.  If not, you will find an excuse."

I guess a 21 question process will be the way we find out just how "important" Affordable Health Care is to everyone.

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