We have been home a week now and I must admit the adjustment has been more taxing than I had anticipated. There is much to do on the home front after being away for five weeks; the larder needs restocking, the landscape beds are a mess, the front of RV is covered with American born bugs from 17 different states, the truck needs new oil and I keep forgetting to remove the nail polish from my toes. There is no denying that the tug of the American highway is strong and the lure of unknown locales is appealing, but I must resist, duty calls. The sexy ones are mine.
Once again health care seems to be dominating the news as the Senate Republicans struggle to write a bill with any chance of passing. One of the first things I saw when I got home was this guy talking about the need for a more market-based approach to health care. He is Kansas Representative Roger Marshall. Before he became a politician he was an obstetrician.
I sometimes think that these guys forget where they are and actually say what they really believe. (This how you can tell 45 is not a politician, he always speaks his version of his truth, and no filters need apply.) When the interviewer remarked that polls showed most Americans did not support the Republican plan, Mr. Marshall responded that health care is an emotional issue for some Americans and when people are emotional they don’t think clearly. I am so glad I have you to protect me from myself Mr. Marshall.
It is in fact an emotional issue at my house but I believe I am thinking pretty clearly when I say that the health care system is seriously messed up in this country and these guys don’t have the slightest idea how to fix it. Here’s what Mr. Marshall said on March 6.
“Just like Jesus said, the poor will always be with us. There is a group of people that just don’t want health care and aren’t going to take care of themselves. He added “morally, spiritually, socially,” poor people and homeless people “just don’t want health care.”
Suppose Mr. Marshall had used the word Blacks or Asians or Native Americans instead of the word poor, how would you then feel about this statement? This is offensive on so many levels that all I can hope for is that the good people of Kansas remember this and act to correct it. The immediate problem is this guy used to be a doctor, so his colleagues are looking to him for guidance on this issue. Scared yet? Not scared enough!
Obamacare was passed in 2009 with no Republican support and at that time Democrats were screaming obstruction by the right. Now that the shoe is on the other foot we have the Republicans, especially 45 lamenting the obstructionism of the Democrats. Now, now kids let’s try to get along. The point is, Obamacare has been with us now for a while and those that believed it was bad public policy have had plenty of time to formulate an alternative. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky expressed the frustration of the free-market proponents when he said on December 22, 2009:
“It is clear that even many of the people who support this bill with their votes don’t like it, otherwise they wouldn’t be rushing it through. There is widespread opposition to this monstrosity. This fight is not over.”
To his credit, I guess, he was right about the fight, he has carried it front and center ever since. One might assume that a dedicated public servant and Senate leader like McConnell would have spent the last six years not only keeping this issue in the public consciousness but also bringing together the best conservative minds in the country to develop a well thought out alternative to the current “monstrosity.”
Not only does that seem like common sense, it feels like the duty of our elected officials. If there is a problem with Obamacare, and there are many, don’t just keep telling us how bad it is, tell us what you intend to do about it. During the campaign, 45 seemed genuinely perplexed by the difficulty our elected officials were having in attacking this issue. October 2016:
“That begins with immediately repealing and replacing the disaster known as Obamacare…You’re going to have such great health care, at a tiny fraction of the cost—and it’s going to be so easy.”
After taking office we all remember this jewel of enlightened wisdom from our all-knowing high commander.
“Now, I have to tell you, it’s an unbelievably complex subject. Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.”
I suppose “nobody” means 45?
None of what is happening in Washington right now should inspire confidence that our country is really going to be able to satisfactorily fix this problem. There are too many stakeholders in the health care system chasing too few dollars and I am afraid that there is no way to satisfy them all. I did not read the latest Senate bill, after reading the bill on prescription drug abuse, I just couldn’t bring myself to suffer such self-inflicted torture again. Instead, I read a synopsis that was put together by the liberal nut-jobs at NPR. Despite being firmly entrenched in the “fake news” industry, I really have no reason to believe that these items are not really in the bill. Here are just a few.
Make old people like me and my wife pay more. Reduces the subsidies for old people with moderate incomes. If you are old and make 350% of the poverty line you would pay 16.2% of your income on premiums.
Allow insurers to charge old people like me and my wife more. The rules under Obamacare allowed insurance companies to only charge old people three times what they charged young people. The Senate bill raises that to five times. Thanks Mitch!
Remove the individual mandate. This is America. The government has no business making people buy something they don’t want. I must ask though; what happens when these free market adherents get sick and show up at the hospital my premiums are paying for? What happens when they can’t or don’t pay for their medical care?
And finally my very favorite component of the Senate health care bill, so carefully crafted to protect the working people of America, to make health care more accessible, more affordable, more patient centered and more market based.
Repeal the taxes on health insurers, prescription drug makers and medical devices. Obamacare imposed a job-killing tax of 2.3% on certain medical devices. Let’s transfer that to the old people. The Congressional Budget Office says these tax cuts would provide $500 billion in tax breaks to insurance companies and drug makers.
Since 2010 good ole Mitch has received $433,000 in campaign contributions from health insurance and pharmaceutical companies. These are some of the same companies peddling opioids at a breakneck pace and ruining countless lives. I hope Mitch don’t throw out his back lifting those money sacks and need some painkillers.
When a candidate says something like this:
“You’re going to have such great health care, at a tiny fraction of the cost—and it’s going to be so easy.”
That candidate needs to be pressured into explaining how in detail that is going to be accomplished. It is not enough to say I am voting for that person because they say they can fix health care. There is nothing in that statement that points to how he can fix this problem. If they can’t provide real and substantive answers, they don’t need to be taken seriously and they certainly don’t deserve your vote. 45 had no plan, no ideas, no expertise and I suspect no interest in really drilling down on this; he expected others to do that work for him. He has said he has his pen ready, but has made no significant contribution to this discussion that I have been able to find.
What happens next is anybody’s guess because that’s the natural state of the universe when leaders have no vision or no plan and even, surprisingly enough, after so many years of complaining about “this monstrosity.”
We can blame the Democrats and Obama for all of this if it makes us feel better, but it does nothing to solve this problem or move us forward. After a working life of over 45 years and even after not having access to employer provided health insurance, at least we had the opportunity to maintain our coverage. I have already said that there are serious problems with Obamacare, nobody knows that better then we do, we are living it and our pocketbook can testify to it.
Now, we are preparing for the real, and I think likely, possibility that for the first time in our lives we will either not have access or it will prove so expensive that we simply will not be able to afford a policy.
Obama is out of office, now it is 45 and Mitch’s turn. I am not impressed so far, are you?
Where is the heck does she keep that nail polish remover?
Love to All!