Cruel Through Any Lens
Everyone has their own way of seeing the world. Liberals see the world through a lens that believes government is an inherently good force, that it can able to solve a large number of problems; it can make people’s lives better and easier. Conservatives see government as a necessary evil that keeps chaos at bay. But one that it must be kept as small as possible, because humanity, setting aside their own desires to advance the collective good, is better suited to solving major problems.
Both worldviews have a similarity: liberals and conservatives both want to help people, and make people’s lives better.
Looking through the both the liberal and conservative lenses, I don’t see how President Trump came to the two decisions he made today regarding healthcare. Looking at his actions through both lenses, I don’t see anyone winning. In an executive order, he expanded short-term catastrophic health insurance plans. Plans that have a low monthly rate and provide minimal coverage: plans that young, healthy people buy. Now you can purchase one for a full year. President Obama only let them last three months. This expansion will entice younger, healthier people to buy these cheap plans, which will take them out of the general healthcare market.
Americans who get sick often, deal with chronic pain, have a mental illness — Americans who need more coverage — will make up a greater percentage of the general healthcare market once the younger, healthier people leave. To protect their profit, which private companies have every right in the world to do, they will raise the rates of the people who remain.
If this was the only missive the president sent out, I could see it has industry deregulation. I wouldn’t agree with it, but through a conservative lens, one that prioritizes a person’s right to purchase a healthcare plan that offers the amount of coverage they want, at the price they want, I would understand. But President Trump also announced he was ending the federal subsidy program that helped the sickest Americans — one’s with chronic pain, regular chemotherapy appointment's, mental illnesses that may never be cured and must be managed over a lifetime — pay for health insurance.
He raised their rates, then he made them pay a larger share of their rates. These aren’t Americans with disposable income that will have to sacrifice that third car, or that Michelin Star meal, or that gold toilet seat. These are Americans — THE PEOPLE HE SWORE AN OATH TO PROTECT — that may now be forced to choose between groceries and life-saving medication. Do they want to feed their children for a month, or have back surgery so they can return to work?
Maybe this is all an elaborate game of chicken that will force Congress to codify the ACA subsidies. If that happens, I will happily eat my words and offer a formal apology to the president. But from what I’ve seen, the theory that President Trump is actively working to undo every major pillar of his predecessor’s legacy, a man no one can argue was actively working against the interests and ACTUAL PHYSICAL HEALTH of his people, is much more convincing.
