It’s about time. There is new legislation going through the halls of Congress to help protect drivers, especially those with pre-existing damage or points on their license, to get the car insurance they deserve. The focus is to provide affordable coverage for more middle income families. The Americans Bravely Requiring Affordable Car and Driver Adjustments By Replacement Act will extend subsidies (tax payer dollars) to those with incomes from 300% up to 400% of the federal poverty level (approximately $46,000 for an individual), making automobile insurance affordable for more low-to-middle income families.
The Americans Bravely Requiring Affordable Car and Driver Adjustments By Replacement Act streamlines automobile insurance programs while providing additional federal reimbursement for people already covered. This act also provides grants (more tax payer dollars) to help states protect drivers from excessive premiums.
This new legislation establishes tax credits for certain small employers to make it more affordable to cover their drivers, which can be combined with additional good-driving rebates through local exchanges that will be setup to help navigate the system.
Thanks to the Americans Bravely Requiring Affordable Car and Driver Adjustments By Replacement Act, most automotive plans must now cover preventive services like oil changes, tire changes, brake replacements and tune-ups at no cost to the consumer. This will help increase access to critical preventative car care in the short term and extend the lives of vehicles in the long run.
As we know, many of our young drivers suffer from unreasonably high insurance rates. Under the Americans Bravely Requiring Affordable Car and Driver Adjustments By Replacement Act, young adults are able to stay on their parents’ plan until age 26, where they can then get an affordable rate when they go through one of the exchanges.
This act will also keep insurance rates lower by providing automotive insurance to over 30 million residents in the United States who are currently uninsured. By removing the obstacles of cost and eligibility, those individuals will no longer be a burden to highway emergency response operator (“HERO”) units and can find a dedicated garage of their own. If they are already happy with the garage they have, they should be able to keep their garage, so long as that garage is adhering to the requirements in the legislation of not denying anyone repairs for pre-existing damage.
The wonderful part about this bill is it will be revenue-neutral. According to lawmakers, not only will millions of drivers get the insurance they deserve and the services they need, but also will not cost taxpayers a single dime. And, most Americans will see a savings of approximately $2000.
So, who’s first to sign-up for the Americans Bravely Requiring Affordable Car and Driver Adjustments By Replacement Act, affectionately known as ABRACADABRA? It’s a revenue-neutral bill that will expand coverage, guarantee automotive repair services for both typical services and for pre-existing repairs at a consistent and affordable rate for everyone, and extend coverage rates to younger drivers until the age of 26. And, let’s not forget, those who are in the low-to-middle class, taxpayer dollars will help to subsidize your monthly premiums. It’s a win-win all the way around — expand coverage of typical services, cover existing damage and include millions of uninsured, all without adding anything to the current deficit.
It’s magical!
Alas, it’s time to peel back the curtain.
The language used in this blog (up until the word Abracadabra) has been mirrored off of the actual documents created to sell the merits of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. These are the same selling points we were told to get support for the bill. These are the same talking-points that are being used today by elected officials in support of the Affordable Care Act. It’s the same magic.
By replacing the concept of health care with automotive care, it becomes difficult to get anyone, save for blind zealots, to believe they can get this kind of coverage and that it would not only be cheaper, but also not cost taxpayers any additional dollars to enact. It also shows how easily the current administration can switch out the the term healthcare for health insurance. Do you submit an insurance claim for new tires, brakes or oil changes? After all, it’s car care, right? Isn’t car care and car insurance the same thing?
It defies logic.
It is without reason.
And yet, even with the resources available to the Federal government, they couldn’t figure out how to build a website that could handle a few million concurrent users who want to investigate their insurance options — an operation no more complex than what users do daily on Amazon.com or Ebay. How many millions of individuals, especially during the holidays, shop online? Hundreds of millions of individual data transactions and database hits take place as pictures and descriptions of products are posted, quantities selected, additional items added to the shopping cart and then using several different payment methods for simultaneous check-outs.
And they don’t crash.
Of course, they are in the private sector. They can’t afford to crash and lose business to a competitor. They don’t have unlimited resources at their disposal. And, they don’t have a gun aimed at the heads of all potential customers saying they must buy something from them and only from them.
Several may read this and say that it’s too late. To just deal with it. And, we may very well be at that point. But there is a battle taking place in our country. Not necessarily about funding the Affordable Care Act, but to give Americans the time they need to realize they were sold a bill of goods that has failed before it even begins. This is the time where many are seeing, first hand, the incompetence of the government that designed these websites. And those that battle through a system that was obviously never stress-tested, waiting hours for page reloads, are finding themselves sucker-punched with sticker shock once they get their quote.
And the longer this battle plays out, more and more Americans will be afforded the time to ask themselves, if our government can’t even manage to build a version of Amazon.com, how in the world are they going to be able to manage the complexity and nuance of individual health care?
All we keep hearing, though, is, Abracadabra.
For those fighting, it’s all about time.
