By PETER SUR By PETER SUR ADVERTISING Tribune-Herald staff writer Regardless of what the Supreme Court decided, public opinion is split on Obamacare. Though the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been on the books for more than two
By PETER SUR
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Regardless of what the Supreme Court decided, public opinion is split on Obamacare.
Though the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been on the books for more than two years, the question has been whether the law’s individual mandate is constitutional.
Now that it is, the next question is: What does it mean? Health care and business professionals that the Tribune-Herald interviewed are unclear about the law’s impact.
“I think that’s — to use an old phrase — the $64,000 question,” said Vaughan Cook, president of the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce. While the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has spent millions in an all-out effort to defeat the law, the local chamber has been more focused on state and local issues.
“Health care is an important factor in our economy here in Hawaii, and our businesses,” Cook said. “It’s clearly important and it’s clear there’s no question there.”
“There is confusion in Hawaii as to whether the Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act will be affected by this ruling.” Cook’s uncertainty reflected widespread unease among the business community about how the law will affect them.
“I think right now we’re just trying to research it and find out what’s going on,” Cook said.
“It’s hard to say this early” what effects the law will have, said the manager of a Hilo pharmacy who is not authorized to speak to the media. “It’s extremely complicated business.”
“From the looks of it, it’s going to be good on one level, but it’s going to be challenging on the others,” said Howard Ainsley, CEO of the East Hawaii Region, Hawaii Health Systems Corp. As a practical example, he said that there will be issues with the limited number of health care providers. What happens when nearly everybody on the Big Island has health insurance, but the number of physicians doesn’t rise fast enough to keep up with demand?
Hilo Medical Center takes a broader approach, Ainsley said, by encouraging individuals to reduce health care costs by living healthy lifestyles.
“We need to be more accountable for our health and wellness,” he said.
Robert Dominguez, 45, was sitting in the Bay Clinic lobby for several hours Thursday, as he waited for a doctor to assess his nerve damage. A disabled carpenter and a father of two, Dominguez received nerve damage in his left hand on Tuesday when he hit a punching bag the wrong way.
“I’m not real sure how my coverage will change,” he said, “because I’m on a fixed income.”
Dominguez said he wonders how people will be able to buy insurance if they don’t have the money for the copay.
“I wonder what I’m going to do when I can’t afford any insurance if something happens,” he said.
At the University of Hawaii at Hilo, family nurse practitioner Heather Hirata believes the Supreme Court did the right thing, even if the implications aren’t clear.
“I definitely thought the Supreme Court held up the right decision, especially given their different political views. They made a wise decision,” Hirata said. Then she added: “We don’t really know how it’s going to play out in real life.”
She had been following news reports Thursday morning that suggested “there’s no way to make people comply with the law (to buy insurance) … there is a tax, but (the government) can’t make them pay it.”
Hirata, an advanced practice registered nurse, praised another section of the law that allows young adults to remain on their parents’ insurance plans until the age of 26.
“Students not having health coverage is a major issue here,” she said.
Like others, she was waiting to see what impact the law had.
“We kind of have to see what’s going to happen,” Hirata said. “I think the intent of the law is to better serve people, and we’ll see how that plays out in reality.”
Email Peter Sur at psur@hawaiitribune-herald.com.