President Obama and the Democratic Party put country before party and elections to pass the Affordable Care Act. This took months of debate where democratic members of the senate and house worked day and night, weekends and holidays to develop legislation taking the best ideas from both sides of the table. Did you know the bill was passed on Christmas Eve?

I am asking that you take 5 seconds from your time to sign this petition and show support for an exemplary president who sacrificed his political capital and took a beating for 8 years, including racism, for you - the citizen. President Obama did not talk a lot about what he did for us - he just kept his head down and worked as hard & selflessly as he could, thinking only about we the people. 

I am not a Democrat or Republican. I like ideas from both sides of the table. I did not create this petition out of bias. I read all about the Affordable Care Act (hundreds of articles, opinions, studies, statistics) and viewed more than 8 hours of video. I heard both sides of the aisle in depth. I am convinced that it is good legislation which should never be repealed or replaced. It already considers all major ideas from both sides of the table in a fiscally responsible manner.

We stand to lose everything if the Affordable Care Act is repealed. We no longer have President Obama, to stop the GOP agenda in the white house We have to stand on our own feet.

The Solution

This petition requests the current US Congress to consider the following for the good of all American citizens:

- Leave the past behind and reset your perspective on the Affordable Care Act so that we can have the best legislation for all the people. 

- Debate the bill, live on camera with Democrats before deciding to do anything. Let the people see and hear the facts before a decision is made.

- Improve and build upon the existing bill, with bi-partisan support, so that it will continue to provide consumer protection to american citizens while adhering to free market principles.

- Ensure that any change to the existing bill or a new bill will provide better consumer protection than the existing bill.

- Ensure that any change to the existing bill or a new bill will be more fiscally responsible than the existing bill.

- Ensure that any change to the existing bill or a new bill will provide coverage to the same number of people or more people than the current bill. 

- Ensure that medical insurance provides minimum basic coverage  in clear and concise language just like auto insurance so that consumers know what they get and what they won't. 

- Ensure that even President Obama approves of the improved/ new bill. His approval will ensure and provide the people with assurance that the bill is truly bi-partisan. This will go a long way in uniting the 59.8 million people who voted for Hillary Clinton with the rest of the country.

- May I suggest a debate between President Obama and one person from the GOP on the subject broadcast live on TV so that the whole country can hear the debate and decide for themselves?

The Facts

Fact: Where did the ACA come from?

The Affordable Care Act was not a democratic, left centric idea. The main ideas which made it into legislation came from previous bills which were developed by the GOP during the Clinton presidency.

Is the ACA the GOP health care plan from 1993?​

GOP Proposes Obamacare To Replace Obamacare

"First, it’s because the Affordable Care Act pretty much was their plan before I adopted it — based on conservative, market-based principles developed by the Heritage Foundation and supported by Republicans in Congress, and deployed by a guy named Mitt Romney in Massachusetts to great effect. If they want to take credit for this law, they can. I’m happy to share it."

President Obama's Video with the above comments

Fact: Was President Obama and the Democratic Party partisan?

President Obama and the Democrats went above and beyond to try and get bi-partisan support for the legislation. However, they were unable to get this support - not a single republican voted for the bill. 6 years later the GOP still does not have a single coherent healthcare plan which is anywhere nearly as good as the Affordable Care Act.

Much has been written about this, but you should see the videos for yourself before you believe anything which is written about the Affordable Care Act online. Consider the facts yourself - consider the arguments for and against it yourself.

Bipartisan Meeting on Health Reform: Part 1 

Before you throw stones at President Obama and the Democratic party, please watch all the videos from 1-5 and ask yourself, which republican question they did not answer? - Did the opposition make any sense beyond obstructionism?

Fact: Did President Obama hide from answering questions from the GOP?

If you think the republicans had a point, see the below video for yourself. President Obama went all by himself in front of the GOP firing squad and answered all their questions one by one without blinking an eyebrow:

President Obama Takes Questions at GOP House Issues Conference

As you can see for yourself, our president, the most admired person in America responded to each and every question (fair & unfair) from the republicans. We are not going to see another president like this in our generation. He knows the inside out of the bill - unlike many politicians who cannot get into or talk about the details. 

If you see all the videos, you will note that we will never have such an intelligent, thoughtful, honest & dedicated president in the foreseeable future. A president like this comes once in several generations.

Summary

The bill is not a Government healthcare takeover - it provides significant protection for american citizens against huge health insurance companies.

If you think I am liberal - I am not. I love Ayn Rand - I've read all her books multiple times. It is possible to love Ayn Rand but still have compassion for your fellow citizens - just take the best parts of her philosophy and ignore the bad parts. Go beyond your ideology - open your mind - and look at the facts for yourself before forming an opinion/ bias. 

 

Q & A

Why is the Affordable Care Act bill so large? Why can't it be small and compact and built incrementally as small bills over time.

This is discussed at length in the bi-partisan debate. Healthcare is a very complex issue, to handle it effectively, it needs to consider all the facts and resolve multiple problems at the same time.

Think about it in this way - the blueprint for a bicycle is going to be 2 pages long. The blue print for a Boeing 747 will be thousands of pages because the Boeing is much more complex and has to deal with thousands of different scenarios.

If the Affordable Care Act is so good, why does it need to be improved? Why didn't they get it right the first time?

Any complex problem cannot be resolved in one step. The Affordable Care Act is the first well thought, and most comprehensive step taken so far to improve healthcare. It was always understood that it needed to be improved and optimized over time. Everybody agrees with this, including President Obama.

Think about it in this way - if you build a Boeing 747, no matter how many years you spend in the design, there are going to be surprises while testing the final build as well as when it starts being used for transport. When the issues are found, they are noted down and resolved. Obamacare is no different. 

Isn't the individual mandate against the constitution?

The supreme court ruled that the Govt has the right to tax the people. This can be considered to be a tax. The thing to remember is that nobody can guarantee that they will not need medical care for their entire life. It is not fair to desist from having healthcare and have someone else pay for your healthcare because you did not take responsibility to have a health insurance. Such people cannot be left to die on the streets either. 

I think a good way to get around this issue is to increase the mandate money and have it saved in an account under the person's name. This way, they still have access to that money if they have a medical issue in the future. Acting like a bank, this could still be used to help others - but available for your use in the future.

Key Facts about the bill:

• The CDC reported that the percentage of people without health insurance fell from 16.0% in 2010 to 8.9% during the January–June 2016 period.
• In a 2016 review, President Obama presented data showing that the uninsured rate had declined by 43%, from 16.0% in 2010 to 9.1% in 2015, mostly in 2014.
• According to the American Community Survey, the uninsured rate dropped in every congressional district in the U.S. between 2013 and 2015.
• A 2013 study estimated that changes to the health system had been responsible for about a quarter of the recent reduction in inflation
• The CBO in June 2015 forecasted that repeal of ACA would increase the deficit between $137 billion and $353 billion over the 2016–2025 period
• Despite higher premiums, enrollments in the exchanges are running ahead of their levels a year ago
• Analysts are reporting substantial financial improvement for insurers: The premium hikes are doing the job, ending their losses.
• Independent estimates suggest that Republican plans would cause 30 million Americans to lose coverage