By Glenn Mollette    

America cannot afford to be without medical insurance. You cannot financially survive without medical insurance. One trip to the hospital for a few days can devastate you for a lifetime.

A friend of mine has recently survived a brain tumor. The weeks of hospital stay and a specialized chemotherapy cost over 400,000.00. Most of his medical care was covered by Medicare and his supplemental insurance. Over 99% of Americans could never pay a 400,000.00 medical bill and would never financially recuperate. Medical providers are not forgiving either. They will come after you with the best debt collectors their money can buy. They will hound you until your bill is paid or credit destroyed.

My first wife died from multiple sclerosis. She left her school teaching position because of the illness and within six months our medical provider dropped us. I could buy insurance but she was no longer eligible because of her illness. For years we racked up thousands of dollars in medical bills. Painful would be an understatement. 

I want to applaud our President for his healthcare vision for America. 
Medical insurance for everyone regarding illness or income is a welcomed relief to millions of weary Americans.

Millions of Americans have been without medical care for a long time.  I\’ve noticed a lot of obituaries of adults under fifty years old. There are numerous explanations but a part of the problem is that many are afraid to go to the doctor because they do not know how they will pay the bill. 

On the flip side the Affordable Care Act has some problems. 

1. We should never dictate that employers must provide medical insurance because if they do not want to they will not. Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Walgreens and many others have announced employees can buy their own insurance.  More corporations will simply move their work to other countries or downsize employees to part-time if they cannot afford to provide medical insurance. 

2. Americans should not be forced to buy health insurance. I think any American is crazy to not want insurance but what happened to our freedom? With the ACA Americans will now face tax penalties if they do not have medical insurance.

3. The next problem is the great demand for more tax dollars that the ACA will demand. 
    Cheaper insurance and access to health care will come at great cost. Someone will have to pay the bills and it will be all of us as we will be forced to cough up billions more each year in new taxes.

4. One final negative is that the government/insurance provider will be calling the shots about our medical treatment. Already we are told by the "insurance provider" what they will pay for and what they will not pay. Length of stay in the hospital is dictated by who is paying the bill. The patient has become an outsider looking in as medical staff and an insurance representative negotiate your fate. 

The ACA has two sides – some positives and serious negatives. 
Hold on. Over the next few months we will see both sides. 

Glenn Mollette is an American columnist read in all fifty states.