Wannabe Dictator Upset About Healthcare
No one will lose coverage. There will be insurance for everybody. Healthcare will be a “lot less expensive” for everyone — the government, consumers, providers.
Remember that promise?
It was a bold claim. But Donald Trump didn’t stop there. He also claimed that he was working on a great plan, at one point he even suggested it was near completion. That was six-months ago. It was laughable then as much as it is now. I’m certain that the great deal-maker thought he would pull something off with the help of his buddies. You know, those so-called patriots who have gerrymandered their way into control of the nation. Surely they had a plan.
Right?
Right?
Uh. No.
After seven years of screaming about how bad Obamacare was, they didn’t have the slightest idea what they were going to do to fix healthcare in America. We all knew they had no idea what they were going to do. We all knew that they were just scoring rhetorical political points with their respective constituents. We all knew that they were promoting the idea that anything the black guy set out to accomplish was bad. We all knew that the whole point was to roll back anything Obama did in an attempt to ruin his legacy.
We all know that this divisive strategy is what got Trump elected.
Now here we are. They control every legislative branch of government and we are seeing the result of all that Republican trash-talk. They successfully divided the nation using the Affordable Care Act as the basis for creating the division we are currently living with. They pandered to the far-right giving way to the spread of a hateful ideology based on race and class. The purpose of that level of division was to create an environment where they can do as they please while the populace remains distracted fighting each other.
Did they succeed?
Yes and no.
Emphasis on the no.
Prior to the previous election we were a complacent nation in many ways. If there is one positive aspect of the current environment, the level of political engagement among the people is the highest its has been in a very long time. While they were successful in dividing the nation somewhat, we are starting to unite like never before. The commonalities we share as citizens far outweigh our differences (far-right and far-left extremists aside).
The Power of United Resistance
The most recent attempts by the current ruling party to destroy our healthcare failed because we are making our voices heard. The power of unity is nearly impossible to defeat. The louder we get, the more we expose them for what they are. Corporate shills. Don’t get me wrong, Democrats aren’t much better when it comes to being driven by corporate dollars. They all prostitute themselves for profit while voting for legislation written by their corporate pimps. That’s the environment we are fighting against as a people. We’re fighting against corporate interests funded by corporate dollars.
The Republicans have dug a deep hole for themselves, and it appears that they are finding it very hard to get out. Their agenda of using the repeal of Obamacare to give the richest among us tax-breaks has been exposed. Despite their campaigning to repeal and replace the ACA, they now find themselves unable to deliver on that promise. After seven years, their promise is now broken as they find that a large portion of their constituency has come to depend on the healthcare they have. It’s life or death for many people.
They have burned through much of the political capital created by their hateful rhetoric and the election of Donald Trump. With the August recess on the horizon and deadlines to fund the government and prevent a federal default this fall, some might argue that trying to tackle healthcare so quickly was a serious miscalculation. I am of the opinion that tax-breaks for the rich at the expense of approximately 24 million people losing insurance is a much more serious problem for Republicans and the Trumpster.
All Eyes On Trump
The attention in the healthcare debate will now shift to Donald Trump and his administration’s management of Obamacare. Trump has since threatened to cancel key Obamacare payments to insurers (cost-sharing reductions) in order to bring about chaos in the market and try to force Democrats to a deal. He renewed that threat again on Tuesday saying, “I think we’re probably in that position where we’ll let Obamacare fail, we’re not going to own it. I’m not going to own it.”
However, some Republicans have left the door open to a bipartisan bill to stabilize Obamacare markets and possibly guarantee that the cost-sharing reductions are paid. Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced Tuesday that his panel would hold hearings on stabilizing the Obamacare markets. While that sounds like good news, the uncertainty for insurers will create volatility in the marketplace that will impact those that rely on health insurance the most with higher premiums they can likely not afford.
Donald Trump must be sad. Sad that he can’t just simply roll back the Affordable Care Act that over 22 million Americans depend on. It’s a statistical fact that no Republican took into consideration. They were too busy getting paid to manipulate facts and distort reality that they failed to see the positive impact the ACA has had on so many families. They instilled false hope with promises of a better healthcare system, yet they had no plan. Nothing.
Now the time has come to fulfill those rhetorical promises and all they have offered are tax-breaks for the rich at the expense of our health. Citizens are beginning to understand the impact. Voters are starting to understand what all this bullshit talk really means and how it affects them. Americans are beginning to understand the reality of what Republicans are trying to do.
Trump’s Lies About Healthcare
As a reminder, here are just a few of those lies from Donald Trump regarding healthcare.
- “I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid”
- “We’re going to have insurance for everybody. There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us.”
- “We don’t want anyone who currently has insurance to not have insurance.”
- “I firmly believe that nobody will be worse off financially in the process that we’re going through.”
- “I am going to take care of everybody … Everybody’s going to be taken care of much better than they’re taken care of now.”
Reasonable Trump supporters are taking notice. But how long before his die-hard supporters do? Will they ever? No matter what else he does, good or bad, this healthcare debacle will define his Presidency. This is as certain as the sun is hot. His broken promises and failed policies in this arena are what he will forever be remembered for.
