I recently participated in a panel at William Jessup University with a really smart doctor and a really experienced regulatory expert. I am neither. I'm a college president, a pastor, and a husband and father. But I do have concerns. So, when asked to participate, I said yes. I thought you might enjoy what I said as to why I thought the Affordable Care Recovery Act was bad policy, based on three types of concerns:
1) I have constitutional concerns; those concerns center first on religious liberty concerns; we are already seeing dramatic actions relative to the value of human life, and an aggressive agenda on views of human sexuality. My secondary concerns on constitutional grounds relate to the 10th Amendment and the emergence of a new federalism that sees sweeping and seemingly unending power on the part of the federal government.
2) I have cost concerns. I think the young adult population will be the least likely populations to opt in to the program with its costs, and the high risk population will be the most likely to opt in. We will increase the demand for medical services while we have done nothing to curb tort reform abuses and nothing to increase the supply of medical providers (I used to live in NV for 13 years -- check out that state's crisis with OB-GYN doctor supply). Fundamental economics says an increasing demand and a static supply will send prices up. Further, the amazing number of gaps in the program requirements and management will undoubtably spiral the costs to many times any prior estimates that have been publicly released.
3) Finally, I have compassion concerns. The tone of the act itself is yet another step in sync with the "nanny state" and lives on the presumption that the government is the best care taker of our collective responsibilities. I am vociferously opposed to this as I am convinced the best care happens in family, church, community, state and only with the federal government as a last resort. We are continuing to abdicate personal and family responsibility for governmental nanny programs.
For these three reasons, and their many component parts, I believe that the Affordable Care Act is bad policy.