The Autopsy of Obamacare: Why 'Building on Success' is a Lie
We tried to bribe the insurance industry into being moral. They took the money, kept the money, and let the system rot. SAFECARE is not an update. It is an eviction.
The Issue
The Sabotage by Design 🗑️
Let's rip the bandage off: The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) did not fail because it was too radical. It failed because it was sabotaged before the ink was dry.
It was a hostage situation masquerading as legislation. The original vision (a "Single Payer" model or at least a robust "Public Option") was systematically murdered in the Senate. Why? Because the insurance lobby threatened to burn the capital down, and one Senator (Joe Lieberman) decided that protecting Connecticut insurance giants was more important than protecting 300 million Americans.
The "Allergy" Strategy: The result was not a fix. It was a poison pill. The industry allowed the ACA to pass only after they ensured it would be a bureaucratic nightmare. They wanted it to be messy. They wanted premiums to rise.
By creating a system where you are forced to buy a private product that gets more expensive every year, they engineered a national allergy to reform. Now, when someone says "healthcare reform," the average voter flinches, remembering rising premiums and confusing websites. That was the goal. They successfully associated "Government Help" with "Financial Pain" in the American psyche.
The Fatal Flaw: Subsidizing the Theft The ACA achieved one great moral victory: It banned the exclusion of pre-existing conditions. You can no longer be denied coverage for having cancer.
But because Congress failed to cap prices, this moral victory triggered an economic explosion.
- The Deal: The government forced insurers to cover sick people.
- The Retaliation: Insurers said, "Fine, but sick people are expensive. We will raise premiums to the moon."
- The Surrender: The government said, "Okay, we will use taxpayer money to subsidize those high premiums."
The result? We are currently shoveling billions of tax dollars into private insurance companies to help them pay for overpriced care. We did not solve the cost problem. We just spread the bill around. We turned the US Treasury into a pass-through entity for UnitedHealth Group.
The Trap: You cannot regulate a shark into being a vegetarian. The ACA tried to regulate the insurance industry. SAFECARE realizes the industry is the problem.
The Fix
The SAFECARE Solution: Scorched Earth ✅
We do not "build on the ACA." You do not build a skyscraper on a foundation of wet cardboard. We bulldoze it.
1. No More Subsidies (Section 207) SAFECARE stops subsidizing private insurance premiums. We stop paying the ransom. Instead, we use that money to pay doctors and hospitals directly via the Trust Fund.
2. Price Control, Not Premium Support (Section 402) The ACA tried to make insurance affordable. SAFECARE makes healthcare affordable. By setting rates at 100% of Medicare and negotiating drug prices down to international levels, we attack the root cause: the price tag.
3. Abolishing the Product (Section 1004) The ACA forced you to buy a product you hated. SAFECARE eliminates the need for the product. Section 1004 sunsets duplicative private coverage. We don't force you to buy insurance. We give you membership in a national plan that you pay for through a transparent payroll contribution.
4. Universal Risk Pool The ACA struggled because healthy people opted out, leaving a risk pool of sick people (Adverse Selection). SAFECARE automatically enrolls every legal resident. Everyone is in the pool. The risk is spread across 330 million people, making the math work for the first time.
SAFECARE is not a patch. It is a new operating system.
Criticism & Rebuttal
"Repeal and Replace"
Republicans spent a decade screaming "Repeal and Replace" but had no replacement. Democrats scream "Protect the ACA" because they have no other ideas.
The Reality: Both are political theater. The ACA is a corpse propped up by subsidies. SAFECARE is the only actual replacement because it addresses the math, not the politics. We are not returning to the pre-2010 wild west. We are moving to the 2030 standard of the civilized world.
"Disruption of Care"
Critics argue that moving people from ACA plans to SAFECARE will disrupt their treatment.
The Reality: ACA plans have narrow networks that change every year. You lose your doctor every time your employer switches plans. SAFECARE has no networks. You can see any doctor who participates. The "disruption" is that you will finally be able to keep your doctor.
The Sticker Shock
The ACA hid the true cost of care behind complex subsidies and deductibles. SAFECARE makes the cost visible as a tax.
The Mitigation: This is true. Transparency hurts. But under the ACA, you pay a premium, a deductible, a copay, and taxes for the subsidies. Under SAFECARE, you pay one tax. The total amount is lower, but the sticker on the tax return is higher. We trust you are smart enough to do the math.
References
- SAFECARE Act, Section 1004: Private coverage transition rules - Legislative Text
- SAFECARE Act, Section 402: Payment methodologies and rate setting - Legislative Text
- Why the Public Option Failed in 2010 - Health Affairs
- The Cost of ACA Subsidies: CBO Baseline Projections - Congressional Budget Office
- Adverse Selection and the Death Spiral in ACA Markets - Brookings Institution
- Narrow Networks: The Trade-off for Affordable Premiums - KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation)

