Readers sound off on the Affordable Care Act not being so affordable for millennials.
Markoo: Everybody loves it when they think they are the ones who are going to get free stuff. But when they find out they are the ones who have to pay the larger burden, the support goes away. Welcome to the real world. Now look at the tax laws with the same viewpoint.
Alan: What you millennials "bought" in 2012 was socialism! How you can be a supporter of a bill you know little about is naive at best. There were many conservative voices telling the truth about the Affordable Care Act. They were not fooled. Why why were you? You have the same media outlets available to you that we have, yet you didn't know the ACA was going to drive up prices across the board and result in less choices. We conservatives and libertarians knew exactly what President Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi were: socialists. Pelosi said: "We have to pass the bill so we know what's in it" How brain dead is that?
(Guest Opinion writer) Evan Feinberg mentioned the high unemployment rate in his age group. When you elect a big-government socialist instead of a businessman to run the largest economy, what do you expect? You millennials have shot yourselves in the foot at the ballot box! No jobs, no economic expansion, no affordable health care. That’s what you voted for.
It’s not too late. Mid-terms are coming. Listen to conservatives and libertarians. We know the truth about what the liberal Democrats want to do to this country. They want to destroy our freedom. Notice my choice of words. I never sang the praises of Republicans, I said conservatives and libertarians. It’s not a party that is good. It’s the ideas that should be praised — smaller government, lower taxes, freedom and opportunity. Don’t be so quick to tune out the tea party or Rush Limbaugh.
Alex: Alan, you're absolutely right. What millennials thought we were buying in 2008 was socialism. We didn't grow up during the Cold War and in the era of communism. We weren't brainwashed into holding a near-religious reverence toward the flawed model of American capitalism. Millennials sought something similar to Nordic model governance, something I'm sure you'd dismiss as socialist and ineffective. We hoped for higher taxes on the wealthy, a single-payer health care system and employment for every able-bodied worker.
Unfortunately, the Democrats in 2008 were too amenable to conservative demands. Instead of a pure, progressive, socialist model, our country is trying to mix two heterogeneous systems: capitalism and socialism. This is doomed to fail. The reason costs in the Affordable Care Act are so high is because the private sector is still involved. People and insurance companies shouldn’t profit from the sicknesses and injuries of people. It should be the responsibility of Americans to take care of each other, with each person paying what he or she can. Such a system can only be facilitated through socialist policies.
