Obamacare flawed

Obamacare, unfortunately like too many state and federal bills, started with admirable goals but became a bad bill with untended consequences.

One of its big flaws is lack of tort reform. When doctors pay over $100,000 in malpractice insurance it takes a lot of office visits to finance it. And fear of multi-million dollar settlements (mostly pocketed by trial lawyers, not the alleged victims) is certainly one reason for ever higher medical costs; doctors order more tests than they otherwise might.

Another flaw already surfacing is the reduction of what insurance will pay for various procedures. My daughter and her husband have very good health insurance through his company, but they have already seen cutbacks and higher co-pays.

Other more drastic unintended consequences will be when smaller companies find they can’t afford to cover their employees and drop coverage altogether, opting to pay the penalty. And then there’s the $716 billion cut from medicare, mostly in reduced re-imbursements to doctors and hospitals, which will result in hospitals and doctors reducing the number of medicare patients they will treat.

Jon Testor, who has voted 95 percent in support of Obama, voted FOR Obamacare. Denny Rehberg voted AGAINST Obamacare.     

— Mitzi Anderson