The Patient Protection and Affordability Act (commonly referred to as PPACA – pronounced “P – Paca”) passed Congress and the President signed it into law. Being that this was the largest reform since Medicare and Medicaid in the 60’s, this was big news to me, but what made it even more important was my status as an employee of a health insurer.
Living and breathing the various components of the law daily, it shocked me when I was in my local grocery store and overheard the couple behind me discussing purposely dropping their employer-sponsored health insurance coverage because now they didn’t need to pay for it “the government would provide it instead.”
After the shock wore off, I thought about it – why wouldn’t average Americans think this? For months all we heard about was how “everyone would be covered” and it would even be cheaper. The new law was compared to Medicare and Medicaid – and all in rhetoric that was hard to decipher.
But this is a myth. No health insurance is free, no matter how you slice it. Somehow, you’ll pay for it – whether it’s in taxes or in raised premiums or health costs elsewhere – it’s just like my mom always says, “Nothing in life is free except love, and you even have to pay for that sometimes.”
So what are some other common myths? Check out this opinion in Portland’s newspaper, the Oregonian. This guy has some interesting takeaways.
To learn more about PPACA and what’s really in the bill, there are resources available to help.
