Why did Obama spend his political capital to pass Obamacare instead of legislation to create jobs?

why did he create a system so people can have healthcare for free instead of jobs so they can pay for it themselves?Why did Obama spend his political capital to pass Obamacare instead of legislation to create jobs?If you read the new health care and patient protection laws in their entirety, you would realize that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009 (PPACA) as well as its "Fix It" addendums passed the same night (Christmas eve, 2009) CREATE JOBS over time and protect some exisitng ones, too. One of my nurse friends from the VA was hired for a $60,000/year starting salary to help with the computerization of for-profit hospitals' hand-written patient records. Just this one provision of modernizing record-keeping (used by the VA medical system for years now) frees doctors and nurses from time-consuming record-keeping and gives them more face-time with their patients. An added bonus is that duplicate tests can be avoided, consultations can be done via computer (which cuts costs considerly and also saves time), and so on. ReadTheBill.org and whitehouse.gov are good resources for a complete reading...or you can use cnn.com/healthcare.



When Nixon decided to privatize (make "for-profit") health care, greed took over, profit margins became the criteria which determined who had coverage and who did not, and more than 30 million Americans were left out in the cold...no health care. If these people showed up at the more expensive emergency rooms for nonemergency illnesses or injuries, the for-profit hospitals simply passed those costs on to insured consumers, so insurance costs for those who were covered increased by more than 10X to 50X the rate of inflation each year and services were cut---all so that the 1300 for-profit insurers would have all-income and no out-pays. If not when he had political capital to spend, then when? Lobbyists for greedy-gut insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, and for-profit HMOs or hospitals OUTNUMBER our elected representatives by at least 100 to 1 (probably more), so if health care reforms and consumer-protecting regulation of the insurance industry had to occur right way or nothing would have been done (which is what the lobbyists all wanted). Look at the elected representatives who are beholden to these lobbyists through opensecrets.org or else littlesis.org (sponsored by the Sunlight Foundation). When you are going up against these billionaire and trillionaire industries, you have to strike while the iron is hot...and that's just what President Obama and the Democrats were able to do.



If health care costs go down (which the Congressional Budget Office/CBO does say the PPACA will do), this helps businesses who provide health care for their workers. Check out the series of JOBS bills that President Obama and the Democrats were able to get past the inexplicable filibusters of the Senate GOP (see whitehouse.gov and recovery.gov or go to ReadTheBill.org)---all without even one "aye" vote from the militantly obstinate right-wing Republicans! Most of President Obama's legislative efforts have been designed to REVERSE the devastation caused by failed Republican economic policies that brought us to the brink of RUIN---and he has been successful with this reversal (Forbes, Bloomberg News, Reuters, AP, Washington Post---articles in 2009, 2010). Check out the new trade deals with countries like India and Indonesia from President Obama's 11-day Asian trip that ended at the G-8 economic summit where they agreed to buy American-made goods (India's deal on the very first day of the trip resulted in 54,000 American jobs).



Don't just buy into the propaganda spews emanating from Faux or its affiliates...make use of the whitehouse.gov site where every single effort on creating jobs, strengthening our economy, securing our borders, and every other issue is laid out in minute detail. Also use the recovery.gov site to see how the $787 billion "stimulus" (Recovery and Reinvestment Act) dollars were distributed state by state and how these dollars were used in each state---all designed to create jobs. President Obama and the Democrats ended the Republican-granted subsidies for companies that outsource their operations overseas, and then they began to create monetary incentives for these companies to MOVE BACK HOME and HIRE AMERICANS---all done without one "aye" vote from Republicans! Chrysler, for example, moved its 800# Customer Service operations out of China last year and back to two states, Utah and Michigan.Why did Obama spend his political capital to pass Obamacare instead of legislation to create jobs?
It's not up to him to create jobs. It's also not his job to destroy them, but he's done that plenty.Why did Obama spend his political capital to pass Obamacare instead of legislation to create jobs?Your question should be why does he have to spend political capital to create jobs. I guess because the repubs are against spending money on average Americans.
He needed to make a historical mark in history. He was never focused on jobs. The unemployment rate is proof of that.

And ObamaCare already has $1.3 trillion in cost overruns because of the deliberate omission of factors that should have been considered by the CBO.Why did Obama spend his political capital to pass Obamacare instead of legislation to create jobs?He thought Republicans weren't racist. He naively thought that they were legitimately trying to help the country. He thought Republicans could put personal feelings aside to do their jobs. He thought the votes would be there to pass a budget because one needed to be passed and to not pass a budget would incur default.



He was wrong. Republicans hurt the US in their pursuit of their goalsWhy did Obama spend his political capital to pass Obamacare instead of legislation to create jobs?
He did not create a system so that people can have free healthcare. He created a system for people to have affordable healthcare.



And the reason is to save American lives.



I do not understand why so many Americans have fallen for lies about healthcare in the USA, abroad and also the planned reforms [1]. I mean, if the healthcare system in the USA is so good, why have no other nations taken it up? Could it be due to the following facts?

FACT - the USA spends more on healthcare PER PERSON than any other nation on the planet [2].

FACT - the US has higher death rates for kids under five than western European countries with universal health coverage [3].

Or if the US healthcare system is run so well, why not run the fire service like the healthcare system? [4]

Maybe that is because in the USA, before the reforms Obama brought in, insurance companies pushed up costs, bought politicians and refused to pay claims that people pay for [5]. (Look up Wendell Potter on YouTube to hear more if the link below is too long.)

Obama wants to make insurance cheaper, stop insurance companies from refusing health coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, and make sure they pay out when they are meant to [6], a system similar to that which works in Taiwan [7]. He debated this before he was elected [8].

Is it right that a dead American four year old would have had a better chance of life if they were born in Canada, Cuba, Germany and so many other industrialised nations with universal healthcare?

If you think my arguments are wrong, e-mail me with proof. But if you can not, let Obama try to help America. If he fails, vote him out in 2012.
He can not change. He has his own agenda and everything else is just a distraction.



That's why he is such a disaster as President. He can't put his own socialist dogma aside and do what's practical.Why did Obama spend his political capital to pass Obamacare instead of legislation to create jobs?
Health care isn't free. The money has got to come from somewhere and that means us the tax payers.



Obama has an agenda and it isn't doing right by the country. It's doing right by him. I honestly think the man has mental issues.
nothing is free.

a jobs bill would have been better. especially since the health care bill didn't nationalize health care (take the profit out of the system. seriously, how about a for profit police force or a for profit fire department. profit is only appropriate for luxuries, not something that you could die if you can't afford it.)



your point is solid, though. a good paying job solves a lot of problems.
Obama has a completely different agenda than most of us would understand. His goals have nothing to do with improving life for Americans. Unfortunately.
Legislation has to be passed by Congress - and not by Obama.



Since taking over in January 2009, Obama's stimulus plan created or saved 3.5 million jobs. When he took over the helm, jobless rate was at 7.8% and the employment rates were in freefall as USA was gripped by the worst financial turmoil since the Great Depression. By November 2009, unemployment rate has risen to 10%.



The Republicans blocked efforts by Obama's plans for job creation as the Republicans fabricated the lies of "Obama spending". Republican's plan was tax reduction (for the rich), and reduced spending on social security entitlements, etc. In Boehner's words, "what were used in the past doesn't mean that they are no good plans". *the tax cuts, which was used during Bush's administration leading to the worst financial crisis.