Experts View: The Battle over US Healthcare Reform Bill Is Beneficial to the Obama Administration

According to a report by Global Chinese Radio Network — Voice of China, [March 23] has been written into the U.S.’ history: President Obama used 20 pens, each for one letter, to sign the U.S. healthcare reform statute that took nearly 100 years to go into law.

Obama: “Today, after almost a century of trying—today, after over a year of debate—today, after all the votes have been tallied, health insurance reform becomes law in the United States of America.”

In the blink of an eye, the debate over the healthcare reform has been going on for three years, and the court proceeding has lasted for three months. Today, 28 June 2012 on Washington local time, will be written into U.S. history and law school textbooks. That is because today, the U.S. Supreme Court will finalize its ruling on the Obama administration’s cornerstone project: the healthcare reform bill.

Twenty-six states sued the Obama administration. The entirety of America is waiting for the final ruling. Many Americans are opposed to Obama’s healthcare reform bill. Middle-class Americans worry that the universal care will degrade the quality of their medical treatment; the rich and corporations worry that the implementation of the universal care will cost money. And, of course, the money will be collected from local taxes — adding a burden to corporations. Insurance companies in the U.S. charge very high premiums to pay for expensive reimbursements, and they worry that the universal care will reduce their revenues. For the religious world, people believe that subsidy of healthcare will encourage abortion with government money. Economists believe that the universal care will destroy the U.S.’ finance.

　

Originally, Obama’s healthcare reform bill wanted to insure 95 percent of Americans, which would have almost achieved universal care. This should be a good thing benefiting the public, yet many Americans do not appreciate it. Some analysts believe that the “mandatory health insurance” provisions are unconstitutional, but the federal government thinks that if the “mandatory health insurance” were cut off, the two most popular terms of the healthcare reform bill — insurance companies being unable to reject enrollment of any applicant or charge high premiums for pre-existing conditions — would have to be taken out as well. If all these were cut-off, it would have been contrary to Obama’s original intention.

The ruling day, June 28, is coming. Will the Supreme Court overthrow the healthcare reform bill? The ruling will be seen as a campaign episode before the election.

Guo Xiangang, the deputy director of the China Institute of International Studies, said that the majority of judges at the Supreme Court are in favor of the Republicans. Yet there exists another possibility: amending part of the bill. For example, if the provision mandating all Americans to participate in health insurance were removed, the bill would have to be revised. Thus there are two possibilities. But which one has a bigger chance of winning? I would think that there might be some amendments, since the Obamacare act concerns about 10 percent of the American population, which is not a small percentage. The judges from the Supreme Court have to take the 10 percent of Americans’ interest into account. Neglecting or cancelling this group of people’s interests will result in discontent. So I think the possibility of making amendments to part of the bill is relatively large.

Hui Cheng, who has lived in the U.S. for years, thinks that the U.S. media currently focuses all their attention on the impact of the healthcare bill on the upcoming U.S. election, but what the ordinary citizens are concerned with is whether the healthcare reform system is good or bad for their own benefits.

“Currently, we pay for about $400 for our own insurance. Our income is only about $5,000, so the percentage is high. After implementing universal care, a health check-up would cost ten times one in Taiwan, Hong Kong or Mainland China. For middle-class Americans, universal care would have become a heavy burden. I think [the government and media] have only taken the controversies of the healthcare bill into election debate; nobody is discussing how much of government budget has been wasted by the social welfare system. How is universal care different from the current social welfare system? In the past 30 years, I think the U.S. social welfare system is considerably good. When you do not have money to see a doctor, the kind of care you receive has nothing to do insurance. So I think the current U.S. healthcare system is considerably comprehensive. Whether universal care is necessary, personally, I think it is not.”

CBS commentator Jane Crawford said that regardless of the outcome, the battle would strike even more powerful before November.

“Many people, including Republicans, have said that if the bill were ruled unconstitutional, it would have been a huge humiliation for Barack Obama, since this bill is a cornerstone of his re-election. Nor is it a good thing for Romney, even though he has been opposing the bill. Romney is the biggest obstacle standing between many Americans and their healthcare. So it is difficult to say whom the final ruling will be in favor of, but there is no doubt that the battle will become even fiercer before November.”*

On the other hand, Professor Guo Xiangang also points out that in the future, the social class division based on health care reform bill will only be intensified.

“This healthcare bill, after all, is creating benefits for the bottom 10 percent of the U.S. population. The number of poor Americans is increasing as a result of the weak economy. In a situation like this, if the Republicans blindly entangle with the Obama administration on the healthcare bill, to the contrary, Republicans will make more and more Americans believe that the Obama administration is on their side. Consequently, it will increase [this group of] Americans’ confidence and determination of voting for Obama. So I think the battle over the healthcare bill is good for Obama, but bad for the Republicans. And such battle may worsen the [party] division in the American society.”

*Editor’s Note: The following quote, while translated appropriately, could not be confirmed in English.