ObamaCare's rocky road to reality.

• Author: Riczo, Steve
• Position: National Affairs

ON MARCH 23, 2010, after many months of debate and decades of failure to reform the U.S. health care system, Pres. Barack Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The bill passed in Congress strictly along party lines, with Democrats in favor while not receiving a single Republican vote. Republicans essentially said we cannot afford it, while Democrats countered that we cannot afford not to. The bill that was signed into law is very comprehensive and many opponents have criticized its length.

Some 10 months after passage and with a significant change in the balance of power via the midterm elections, Americans are divided as to whether this law is good for our country, revealing that some (read, most) would like it repealed, some (read, few) want it left as is, and others (read, the rest) would like it scaled down. The health care reform law is viewed by many as a primary example of how the Federal government is growing too big and intrusive.

Americans spend 2.5 trillion dollars annually on health care, which is 17% of the nation's gross domestic product--in other words, one-sixth of the entire U.S. economy--with 50% of health care costs paid by taxpayers through programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, both subject to waste, fraud, and abuse. This makes the U.S. health care industry larger than the entire gross domestic product of more than 180 countries.

One may argue that such a vast, complex industry with so many issues and so much taxpayer money involved requires a comprehensive bill. However, that contention alone is not sufficient, as we need to answer some fundamental questions about our country and its values as well as analyze the new law in detail to determine whether its provisions adequately address the problems that have been recognized in our health care system for years.

The two primary reasons for reform are high costs and the uninsured who cannot access the system sufficiently. High costs have been acknowledged as a major problem by Republicans and Democrats alike, at the Federal and state levels, where budgets are stressed to the breaking point, as well as have businesses--large and small--that pay for health insurance for their employees. Accelerating health care costs continue to outpace the growth of the economy and the consumer price index, and medical bills are a leading cause of personal bankruptcy.

While it is true that nations with advanced economies spend a higher percentage of GDP on...