Brasfield

While reading the first few pages, I drew some concern over the data that shows how healthcare spending has increased mightily over time. It made me wonder if the ACA has accounted for increasing healthcare costs in the long run. If so, I wonder how the determined how much healthcare spending would increase. I was personally surprised to read about how much the government already pays for healthcare. I had no idea that government was already paying for half of hospitals and nursing homes. I liked how Brasfield put it when he wrote that "when public spending for healthcare passes 50%, it will be an occasion for joy or alarm" (5). He shares that some people will label this as socialism when the percentage gets to be above 50%. I think that people have every right to fear that percentage and how much it increases. Since the government plays as a middle man for taxpayers that will be receiving this healthcare, the taxpayers themselves lose control over their own lives. We all know that Americans thrive off of control. I think that Americans are not wrong to feel this way, the basis of this nation revolves around individual freedoms and those that were taken from them hundreds of years ago.