Why ObamaCare Is Like an Elephant

When eating an elephant take one bite at a time.

Creighton Adams (1914-1974), Chief of Staff, US Army

I am writing a book,  Understanding ObamaCare. The book consists of multiple  blog posts.   I describe these posts as the equivalent of taking small bites of the elephantine health reform law to see how the whole thing tastes.

Likening ObamaCare to an elephant is an apt metaphor. 

Like an elephant, Obamacare is a  huge political animal,  the biggest health care entitlement since Medicare and Medicaid.  ObamaCare dwarves these programs in size. It covers every American,  not just the old and the poor.  

Like an elephant,   ObamaCare  has a long flexible  probing proboscis, capable of seizing and grasping everything and everybody within its reach. 

Like an elephant, ObamaCare has a height advantage, overseeing and monitoring  every American from on high with its ever expanding surveillance computer  systems. 

Like an elephant, it has powerful body   parts, including a massive central nervous system,  replete with a vast array of policy experts, wonks, and other functionaries.

Like an elephant, it has a broad, strong back supported by a $3.6 trillion federal budget.

Like an elephant,  it has four sturdy legs,  the pillars of Obamacare – the IRS, Medicare, Medicare, and the Bully Pulpit- capable of trampling  anything that gets in way.   

And, last but not least,  like an elephant, ObamaCare,   has a swishing tail that  brushes aside adverse consequences should they prove inconvenient.  

The only problem is that ObamacCare,  like the elephant, is too big to digest in one gulp.  Because of its size and scope, it is  impossible for any one person to understand what it portends for them as individuals.  That means most of us are like the six blind men of Indostan, each feeling and describing different parts of the elephant.    We are all partly right in our feelings, but partly wrong, too. None of us really gt our arms around the whole animal or see the big picture.

Tweet:   ObamaCare is like an elephant in many ways because of its size, its height, its reach,  and its relevant mass compared to adversaries.