NC dodged a healthcare bullet
Published September 29, 2017
Editorial by The Charlotte Observer, reprinted in The Burlington Times-News, September 29, 2017.
The Graham-Cassidy health care bill appears to be mercifully dead, as Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that Republicans would not vote on the bill. It’s possible that the measure, which already is in its fourth iteration, could be changed once again to entice wayward Republicans. But Graham-Cassidy is caught in the same taffy pull as previous attempts at Obamacare repeal. Make the bill more conservative, and moderate Republicans will flee, and vice versa. Call it death by intra-party politics. A pre-existing condition.
Such a death would be merciful not only for Republicans, who would avoid the self-inflicted wound of passing deeply unpopular legislation, but for the millions of Americans who would have lost coverage or seen premiums skyrocket had Obamacare repeal passed. That’s especially true in North Carolina, which is dodging a bigger calamity than many states if Graham-Cassidy stays dead.
Conservative state legislatures like North Carolina’s aren’t interested in finding innovative approaches to health care. Innovation to many N.C. Republicans is finding new ways to get government out of our lives, not more involved.
In the unlikely event that Graham-Cassidy is revived and passed, N.C. Republicans wouldn’t opt to keep Obamacare’s exchanges or try something new. They would revert to ideological form and let the private sector determine how health care is delivered and covered. That means handing the keys back to insurance companies, just as in the pre-Obamacare days. That also means lifetime caps and essential benefits like some doctor visits would likely be eliminated, and it could mean people with pre-existing conditions would see premiums spike. One certainty: As many as a million North Carolinians would lose insurance coverage as plans become more expensive and federal Medicaid money dries up, experts say.
Tillis and most Republicans seem to be counting on a more cynical calculation – that keeping their promise to repeal Obamacare won’t cost them the votes of conservatives, even those whose health care would be compromised. North Carolinians may have dodged another bad health care bill this week, but the battle over the future of Obamacare is far from over.
The Charlotte Observer
http://www.thetimesnews.com/opinion/20170929/editorial-nc-dodged-health-care-bullet
September 29, 2017 at 8:48 am
Norm Kelly says:
To be accurate, to prevent libs from saying this was taken out of context, which they will do anyway, let me quote from this rag: "Such a death would be merciful not only for Republicans, who would avoid the self-inflicted wound of passing deeply unpopular legislation, but for the millions of Americans who would have lost coverage or seen premiums skyrocket had Obamacare repeal passed."
So, libs, along party lines, passed Obamacancer to start with. The result is the opposite of what those liar libs told us it would be. Yet, libs, socialists, media allies, and various other folks, find it necessary to say that repealing legislation that is killing America and Americans would be a bad thing. Based on what misinformation do libs make these outrageous and false accusations? Does wearing rose colored glasses explain it? Nope. Commitment to their ideology is the only explanation. Regardless of how easy it is to prove you are misleading (lib speak for 'lie'), as a dedicated lib you MUST continue to carry water for the party, even if the party line hurts everyday, average, ordinary Americans. If it's good for the party, the lib line is 'screw America'!
'Passing deeply unpopular legislation' didn't stop libs from passing this garbage to start with. What part of Socialized Medicine was popular when it was passed? What part of Obamacancer was popular when average Americans found out what it would do to them? And lib allies, media types, came out of the woodwork to carry the lie for lib pols who KNEW before passing it what a piece of garbage it was. Knew beforehand that it would cause premiums to skyrocket. Knew before hand it would cause millions of Americans to have their policies terminated. Knew beforehand that it would reduce choice for average Americans. Every lie told by lib pols was simply repeated, without question, by their allies.
We were repeatedly promised that choice would expand if Obamascare were passed. How many insurance companies are available in major parts of the nation? One. Oh, wait, there is a second. It's called Central Planner's choice for you. You either pay for the insurance from the single company that will sell to you OR you buy coverage from the feds. You have NO OTHER CHOICES. And when you finally give in and make the only choice available to you, you then find out you MUST take the coverage dictated to you by some government hack who doesn't care one bit about you or what you actually want or need.
We were promised that premiums would go DOWN. Instead premiums have continued to skyrocket. So, not only has choice diminished under this scheme, but costs have increased significantly under this scheme. The good news is that deductibles have gone down, saving millions of Americans buckets of money. That's what libs and media allies want you to believe. But even that doesn't hold up to even the most basic scrutiny. Deductibles have gone up significantly. So, significant increases in deductibles, significant increases in premiums, significant decreases in choice, and significant force used to make you pay for insurance that someone else tells you what is covered. What part of this is so good that it shouldn't be repealed?
How many Americans LOST coverage when Obamascare was implemented? According to media allies, NONE; only when central planners are taken out of the picture will American be dropped from insurance coverage. See, no matter what the truth, you can NOT count on libs, socialists, media allies to tell you. If you count on any of these groups, you will be mislead (lied to, repeatedly). Eventually, libs expect that if you hear the lie often enough, you will start to believe the lie.
'Hands up, don't shoot' was repeated often enough that a majority believe it, to this day. See, libs are right. Uninformed public can be led to the belief that you want them led to, just tell them the same lie consistently and they'll be like putty in your hands.
My question is, what's in it for media allies that they go along with the lies so willingly? At what point will media stop being allies and stop telling lies to their customers? We know why lib pols lie - power, control. But what's up with media?
