Well, that is that. The so-called Republican majority in the Senate has failed to deliver on their chief campaign promise, and the American people are left with the same mess. There may be 52 Republican senators in Washington, but we don’t have 52 conservative senators, and we definitely don’t have 52 senators who truly want what is best for the country and her people.
Is this not the country that has been at the forefront of medical breakthroughs and innovation? Is this not the country where people from all over the world flock to in order to receive lifesaving treatments? What happened to allowing human ingenuity drive the world?
Humanity accomplishes so much more when individuals are left alone to pursue their goals and dreams. It’s what has allowed the American healthcare system to be the best in the world. Who is left to suffer the consequences? It is us, the average, hard-working American, and no age demographic will be, or has been, so negatively affected by the failures of Obamacare as the millennial generation.
According to the Millennial Policy Center (MPC,) “A report by the American Action Forum finds that 62 percent of Millennials in 2016 found it ‘financially advantageous to forego health coverage, and instead pay the mandate penalty and cover their own healthcare costs.’”
A study by the Manhattan Institute explains that, “On average, premiums for young men increased 97 to 99 percent in 2014. Premiums for young women also increased 55 to 62 percent.”
Millennials have been deceived. Obamacare was supposed to help us; this law was supposed to be for us. It didn’t and it wasn’t. It was all a con, continuing with the latest failure to repeal it.
Millennials are the healthiest demographic in the United States, and yet, thanks to senators from both parties, we are forced to buy health insurance plans that cover things that do not affect us. We must pay premiums that are so outrageously expensive no reasonable person would think was worth the price. But isn’t that how government works?
The MPC also notes that a Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that there are 27 million people uninsured in the United States. Specifically regarding millennials, the Center for Disease Control found in a 2016 study that individuals between the ages of 25 and 34 are “among the highest rate of uninsured in the U.S.”
In addition to direct negative effects in medical care and medical coverage, this health care disaster is hurting the bottom lines of young people across the country. Among the incredible list of taxes, regulations, and other assortment of red tape, the provision which has arguably impacted millennials the greatest is the “29 hour rule.” I have encountered the adverse effects of the “29 hour rule” in my own life.
I have seasonal gig working as a lifeguard. Unfortunately due to Obamacare, I can’t work more than 29 hours per week. This is because I am employed by an entity that employs more than 50 people, and if I work 30 hours a week or more, my employer is required to either provide me with health insurance, or pay a $2,000 tax penalty – for every employee that works more than 29 hours. I would have gladly took on more hours without health insurance compensation, but the government kept me from working.
I was elated when Republicans took control of the White House and the Capitol because I thought it would mean the repeal of the “29 hour rule.” That’s what we were promised when they ran on “repeal and replace,” after all. The repeal would have meant more work hours, and more money in my pocket. However, with the developments of the last week, you can consider me infuriated.
I don’t care about insurance; I just want to make money so I can afford to go to school. Thousands of other high schoolers, college students, and recent graduates feel the same way.
It seems that millennials are being forced to pay for something that continually becomes more expensive and less useful, and leaders in Washington D.C. don’t care. Something’s got to give, and until it does, future leaders of America will continue to suffer due to failures of current leadership.
It must end. We cannot allow the selfishness of the current generation to continue. The Senate needs to go back to work and actually do the job that they were sent to do instead of fretting over CBO numbers that are completely unreliable. The American people and the generations of future America are counting on it.
