Guest Commentary
by Joel Marchese
Happy New Year San Diego! I hope you are recovered from 2013 and ready for 2014. This will be a busy year to be sure. We have so much to prepare for to make sure that our families and friends are well provided for, especially with the skyrocketing costs of healthcare associated with the implementation of the “ACA” or “Obamacare.” The rising costs of our healthcare will no doubt have a serious ripple effect throughout our economy – triggering additional job cuts, decreased spending on consumer goods, and even some inflation in the retail sector. Isn’t it ironic that a law that was originally meant to help 16 million people by providing access to healthcare, will end up hurting ten times that number, or over 160 million hard working taxpayers!
My personal experience with Obamacare’s impact took place on December 18, when I went in for a hernia surgery. Everything went extremely well, and I am pleased to report a speedy and full recovery. The bad news however was what my surgeon reported to me with regards to Kaiser Permanente, my family’s health provider. He informed me that in the month of December 2013 alone, Kaiser lost 6,000 members due to forced plan cancellations and employers dropping plans for their employees. Over 100 layoffs so far have resulted from the drop in Kaiser membership – with more to come. The impact is real and alarming!
Susan Davis, my opponent, has been called a friend by San Diego physicians. It’s also worth noting that her husband was a practicing physician who served in Vietnam. You would think that an elected member of the U.S. Congress with so much access and input from the local medical community would have made a better decision when she cast her vote on the Affordable Care Act. Despite her prior knowledge and access, Susan Davis voted for the ACA (Obamacare) and continues to stand by it’s continued implementation. The resulting debacle that is Obamacare is now taking it’s toll on the finest healthcare system in the world – one that took over 100 years to rise to it’s current level of achievement and quality. Most of the physicians I have talked with personally now say they are disappointed, to say the least–betrayed to put it bluntly. None have any idea about what will happen next. All agree that what is now unfolding before our very eyes is something along the scale of the Titanic disaster–except with millions more people scrambling for lifeboats.
My concern now, as a candidate for the 53rd Congressional race, is focused on several levels: The cost and quality of healthcare, access to care and an adequate supply of doctors and health providers, the impact of rising costs to our economy, and the loss of jobs and reduction of full time positions throughout the private sector. We must find a solution that works for all with regards to the ACA. Of the doctors I have spoken to personally, some have recommended to just let nature take it’s course. That is to say-just let Obamacare implementation run it’s course and it will eventually implode. Other health professionals have suggested that Congress take a more hands on approach, and pass measures which do away with the mandates while keeping some of the beneficial parts of the law, such as the pre-existing condition clause. Whatever the final outcome, we know that the law as written, cannot stand, and will not stand on it’s own. Plain and simple, this is another entitlement program that has no funding to support it long term. That fact alone makes it a key issue for the 2014 election and for Congressional District 53 voters.
In the weeks and months ahead, I want all of my supporters (and prospective supporters) to know that I will be working hard to put the spotlight of the 2014 elections where it belongs, on the issues that matter most to San Diego and the nation. We simply cannot sit idly by while our healthcare system collapses, while jobs and opportunities dwindle, and the economy sputters along. I will do everything possible to bring my message of jobs, freedom, and prosperity to the voters, one precinct, one town hall, one voter at a time, if that’s what it takes. I know we can do better for San Diego, and for our country! I ask for your support now, and your vote on June 3 and again on November 6, 2014!
Marchese is a candidate for Congress in California’s 53rd district.