“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane. ” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
I have already accepted that we are now living in Bizarro World, but the latest news from the Washington Post interview of Donald Trump by By Robert Costa and Amy Goldstein January 15th has everyone’s head’s spinning, especially the Republican lawmakers in Washington. The headline read Trump vows ‘Insurance for Everybody’ in Obamacare replacement plan.
I’ve had myself worked into frenzy for the last week, signing every petition that comes my way, trying, unsuccessfully, to call my representatives in Washington; Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul and Representative Thomas Massie, sending emails, and talking to anyone who would or would not listen. Why am I in such a state? Because the GOP is just inches away from passing legislation that will repeal most of the Affordable Health Care Act aka Obamacare. They vowed to do this and by God they are hell bent on getting it done. Even if it means 22 million Americans will be without health care, because they have nothing ready to put in its place, at least not for the next two years. And all along the GOP, along with me and just about everyone in this country, thought this is exactly what President-elect Donald Trump wanted them to do. Politfact.com reported that “Trump promised to repeal Obama’s signature health care law on day one of his administration.” So when I read the excerpts from the interview of Donald Trump in the Washington Post I was dumbfounded. Trump now says he has a new and better Health Care Plan, one that will offer “insurance for everybody” and he vows to force the Pharmaceutical companies to deal with the government for lower drug cost. Trump used words like “universal” and “lower costs”. The GOP is scrambling to undo the damage. The plan they are working on is nothing like ‘coverage for everybody’ or working deals with the drug companies to lower cost.
But I know we cannot get too hopeful, after all, we know that Donald Trump is a pathological liar and anything out of his mouth is suspect. Also he is very insecure and wants the public to love him. Just read some of his tweets after he has been criticized or satirized on SNL. He is a wild card who says whatever comes into his head at the time. Nothing he speaks or tweets has a basis in reality. So the future of AHC and/or any health care coverage at all is up in the air.
But if Trump is held to his word by the people, then maybe he will refuse to sign any health care bill that the Republicans Lawmakers put before him. Maybe he will move more toward what the people want and with the support of the Democrats, just maybe we will get a much better Health Care bill passed.
Nahh!! Just dreaming. After all we are now living in Bizarro World.
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Please don’t be so quick to judge. Maybe, just maybe we will have a better system where insurance can be purchased across state lines and competition will bring down costs, where people don’t have to have insurance they don’t want or need, where no one in penalized because of their religious beliefs, where the government doesn’t come between you and your doctor, where you can choose your doctor, and where everyone who needs care will receive it. What we have now has the federal government taking control of 1/5 of our economy in the name of health care and providing worse care for a lot more money, and giving the IRS authority to punish everyone who doesn’t comply. We saw the politicization of the IRS when they failed to approve 501c3 status for any group they didn’t like. Americans have spoken. Please give the new administration a chance to improve on a very flawed law.
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I agree the AHC act needs to be fixed. I hate the high out of pocket costs and the penalizing people who do not buy it. I would love to see single payer national health care implemented in this country. (Bernie Sanders called it Medicare for everybody). What scares me the most is the repeal of all or parts of ACA and nothing better to replace it immediately. Which is what looks likely will happen, even though, according to NBC News report, only 1 in 4 Americans want a full repeal.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/obamacare-deadline/most-americans-don-t-want-obamacare-fully-repealed-survey-finds-n691126
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