I’ve been asked many times in the last few days, what the results of the latest election drama mean for healthcare going forward in the United States. I’ve looked at Mr. Trump’s healthcare plan and find the most fascinating part to be the constant theme of repeal. In the plan he doesn’t just discuss repealing the entire Unaffordable Care Act; he goes much farther, which would allow for the creation of products and services people actually want to buy and it would stop forcing people to buy products and services in the health insurance industry that they don’t want. I find this fascinating; it remains to be seen what actually does emerge in terms of legislation or repeal.

Someone on a social media site chided me for expressing what I just said. “20 Million people losing their insurance is a great thing!” they said with sarcasm. I maintained that the only thing worse than no insurance, is having insurance you’ve been forced to buy or someone else has been forced to buy for you through subsidies, that is worthless.

The most rapidly rising portion of our business here at the Surgery Center of Oklahoma for the last few months have been patients with these Obamacare plans, the deductibles for which are so high that they can actually purchase their care here at our facility and have a better out-of-pocket experience than if they were to use this so-called “benefit.” They’ve been turned into disenfranchised Canadian healthcare purchasers.

Canadians have coverage, but many of them still come to the United States and our facility to buy their healthcare, because they have coverage but really all they have is a place in line. These Obamacare “beneficiaries,” like many Canadians, have discovered that the single payer they can rely on is themselves.

I look forward to repeal. I look forward to the people in D.C. stopping mandates that force people to buy products and services that they don’t want. I also look forward to an industry free of constraints that can offer products and services people want to buy. It remains to seen what happens going forward, but it is a very exciting time of change and I look forward to seeing how it all pans out.

Thank you for joining me, I’ll see you next time.