Healthcare. With the 115th United States Senate and President Trump vowing to make changes to the current healthcare system i.e. the Affordable Care Act, the topic has become increasingly contentious. WXPR’s Andrew Padgett hit the streets to find out what people in Rhinelander had to say.
“It needs to change.” “It needs to change.” “Something needs to change.”
Most people wanted this, but they differed on what exactly that meant. For some people like Glenna Bordman, that means improving Obamacare but keeping its framework in place.
“It needs to change. It needs to be more affordable for everybody. Somewhere along the line, the cost has to come down because that’s what doing it. I’d say try to fix Obamacare, fix what’s wrong with it, and hopefully it can be better for everyone.”
Matthew Novak agreed with Bordman that Obamacare should stay, and he acknowledged that it isn’t perfect.
“Like anything there’s definitely problems with all systems to a certain level. The question is are the problems things we can fix or do we need to start from scratch again. I’m not going to sit here and act like an expert on Obamacare and I think a lot of people will when they don’t quite know enough. If what you have is addressing a need for impoverished or low socioeconomic people, maybe we should just try to work on fixing some of those problem instead of starting over again. I’d hate to see more harm done that good.”
However, Dorita Dolsa says the system is okay the way it is.
“I think the current system is okay. It probably needs some fine-tuning but I think it should be basically left in place to work on, not repeal it and not change it.”
Drug prices are the primary concern of Diane Suhms.
“It needs to change, but not what they’re trying to do. They need to make it more affordable. They need to do a study on why drug prices are so high, and why health costs are high, not let the insurance companies regulate it.”
Healthcare has been a primary focus in the US Senate lately. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been advocating to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, but he has been unable to garner the votes needed to get it passed. Therefore, he has recently suggested repealing the Affordable Care Act without a replacement. People in the community such as Brian say that is a bad idea.
“We have the Obamacare system in place now and just trying to get rid of it without something else in place is not a good idea. I’m a senior and I have limited income, and I can’t afford to buy my medicine every month. Something needs to change.”
Not everyone feels that way, though. Linda Honninger says the government should not be involved in the health insurance marketplace at all, and the free market will sort everything out.
“I think it should be market run because that’s the best way. If somebody says, ‘I’ll do it a little cheaper, then they’ll get a lot more people. To have the government to do it, I do not want that at all, I really don’t. That way, if John Jones wants to get something he can go look at 20 different companies to find the best rates, and that’s the way it should be.”
One thing was always agreed upon: rates should go down and coverage should improve. The question is how to achieve it.
