Monday, June 26, 2017

Don't Just Take MY Word for It...


This post will primarily interest my American readers, for reasons about to become obvious.

Let's get a tiny bit controversial for a change.

The great majority of the time, my posts here at The Lair of the Silver Fox are focused on my own writing. Makes sense, right? My blog, my words. Sure, there's a rare post that's not much more than a YouTube video, or an occasional article that's heavy on the links, but I usually make this blog about me, my creative writing, and/or my opinions.

Not today.

As the title above implies, I'm going to rely on linking to recent articles by others to make today's basic point, which is this:

Fueled in part by the current presidential administration, whose main raison d'être seems to be erasing the legacy of our previous president, the "majority party" members in the House and the Senate are proposing a replacement for "Obamacare" which will accomplish two basic things.

1. It will cost several millions of Americans -- primarily those who are elderly, and/or poor, and/or already unhealthy -- their current medical insurance, and/or astronomically raise their medical costs. (And Medicaid, by the way, will really be screwed.)

2. It will, of course, lower taxes for the absurdly wealthy, the people who least need to have their taxes lowered. This seems to be the primary goal for that above-mentioned "majority party."

I very rarely offer political opinions or facts on my blog, figuring there are many, many others who are more qualified to do so. Besides, that's not why I blog anyway. But here, in no real order, are links to a dozen articles about what's been happening, or is about to happen, with the proposed new American healthcare plan. To read the full article, click on the headline or quote.





6. "Trump betraying all his health care promises is the biggest Trump scandal of all"

7. "The states that will take the biggest hits and be pushed to reel in safety nets for the poor and vulnerable tend to be blue."

8. "Shifting Dollars From Poor to Rich Is a Key Part of the Senate Health Bill"

9. "It would be a big mistake to call the legislation Senate Republicans released on Thursday a health care bill. It is, plain and simple, a plan to cut taxes for the wealthy by destroying critical federal programs that help provide health care to tens of millions of people."

10. "Republican Senator Vital to Health Bill’s Passage Won’t Support It"

11. "G.O.P. Health Bill Would Leave 23 Million More Uninsured in a Decade, C.B.O. Says"

12. "We asked Times readers how the Republican proposals would affect them. Here are a few of their stories."

I'm hoping things will turn out for the better, but I doubt it. And we, the voters, have traditionally had short memories, and so we keep voting legislators back into office, although these politicians don't give a damn about those they ostensibly represent. *sigh* Will it ever change?

Thanks for your time.

16 comments:

  1. I can't understand all the people who complain about paying for medical care for "other" people because of the ACA. When people have to go to emergency rooms in public hospitals for care, then we all pay for it. The Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia is running a commercial in which he comes right out and calls Trump a narcissistic maniac (according to my son).

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. A lot of people would be very happy if they could personally distribute each one of their tax dollars, so they'd only support things that meet with their approval.

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  2. No sources for these points? :) Lots of political opinions there over facts. Some of those are so outrageous, I laughed out loud...especially the secrecy one. Like Obama Care wasn't passed in secret? We weren't lied to about what was in it? lol...besides, I don't think the senate has actually finished revising the plan and they haven't had a vote on it yet, so we don't really know what the end plan will be.

    He was elected mainly to undo Obama Care since it is unsustainable economically. It was only going to work if young healthy people bought into it so their payments could pay for the sick and elderly...but the young and healthy didn't want it. Most insurance companies have imploded and pulled out. Our premiums have grown, the boys' medications are outrageous now and I know many have it worse than us. Many couldn't "keep their plan" or "keep their doctor" like they were promised.

    In my opinion, the government shouldn't have gotten involved in trying to socialize our medicine. The less they are involved in the better, you know? But now that they are, there's no going back. I actually think they shouldn't touch Obama Care. Let it play out and then everyone on both sides will be crying for the repeal/replace.

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    1. Thought I'd be hearing from you about this one... :)

      Not sure what you meant by "no sources." Half the article consisted of sources. Or maybe you were being facetious, hence the smiley?

      Anyway, I don't expect you to have anything good to say about Obamacare, since I doubt you like anything the man ever did. But my article wasn't really about Obamacare's pros or cons. My point was that the proposed replacement for Obamacare would hurt the elderly, the poor, and those with pre-existing conditions, and tax-wise, greatly benefit the wealthy.

      According to the Fox News website, the CBO just announced that the bill the Senate will be voting on is "barely an improvement upon the health care bill that passed the House — which would have resulted in 23 million more uninsured." They're claiming that the new version would cause twenty-two million to lose insurance. Not much better.

      As far as opinions versus facts, some of the articles I linked to were opinion pieces and were clearly labeled as such. I just hope you're not automatically dismissing factual news articles that you don't care for, just because they may come from sources you don't like.

      Speaking of opinions, I personally feel that a lot of Trump's support wasn't so much from people who wanted to abolish Obamacare as it was from people with other axes to grind. For example, there seemed to be a lot of people who were against Muslims and Mexicans. (But let me point out very quickly that I am emphatically NOT including you when I mention those bigoted voters. I know you better than that.)

      I do agree with you when you suggest that they should all leave Obamacare alone, and let it fall apart on its own if indeed it will do so. Either that, or maybe both parties could try to work together for a change and improve it instead of... Oh, who am I kidding? That will never happen. Neither party would swallow their pride long enough to do that.

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  3. Well, I'm pretty sure you know where I stand on this. In fact, I think even Obamacare doesn't go far enough, that instead it was a compromise to ensure, or at least try for, bipartisan support. But the fact of the matter is, we're the only, repeat ONLY, developed nation in the world that doesn't have single-payer, cradle to grave, government guaranteed health care. Instead, we've handed the whole system over to the predatory for-profit market, to the detriment of our general health. The current situation is unacceptable and indefensible from a moral standpoint.

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    1. Well, unfortunately, I don't think that politicians in general have much in the way of morality, do you?

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  4. Personally, I think everything has been spinning out of control for a very long time and I know no way to reel it in.
    Visit me @ Life & Faith in Caneyhead. 😉

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    1. Yep, I don't care much for either party, when you come right down to it.

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  5. Politicians no matter where they are or what they represent all come back to "me" and that is it. It hasn't been about the people for ages, if ever. What keeps them in office and what BS they can spin to keep them there is all they worry about. And if per chance there is an honest one that wants to do right, they get trounced on by the douchebags and don't stand a chance unless they play dirty. Then by that time they are in so deep they become as bad as the ones they despised. Screwed up all around. As for health care, rather nuts down there in many a way as you pay and pay and pay. But ours has its patheticness too.

    Things can only go on for so long before the s*** really hits the fan. No political side will stop that. I just hope I'm dead when it occurs.

    But wait, let's forget about everything else, the Russians are bad. Yeah, back to the Russians.

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    1. Hell, if you can point a finger at an enemy, you can draw attention from yourself.

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  6. David this post was really interesting and sharp :)

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    1. Thanks, Gloria, although I have to give most of the credit to the articles I linked to.

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  7. Yes but was really good. Today I saw a documental from CNN talking about latinos in USA and many of them dont have works and live so bad:(

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    1. Yeah, that's true of both "undocumented immigrants," those who are here legally, and those who were born here.

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    2. Uhhh... Take out the word "both" there. I was originally going to write only two choices, but decided on three.

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