As you prepare to leave most doctor appointments, there is some pre-emptive discussion for a plan B. “If you’re not feeling better in a day or two ….; if you develop a weird rash… if you have nausea…”
It is frightening that there does not seem to be any plans for follow-up care, second opinions or alternative treatment with the aborted attempt last week to replace Obamacare with Trumpcare. It appears that the president and congress basically said, “Well, that didn’t work. Guess we are stuck with what we have. Good luck everyone.”
GOP politicians have railed against Obamacare as a centerpiece of campaigns for the past seven years, but when it came time to chunk it, they couldn’t decide what to replace it with – and found out it wasn’t as unpopular out in the fields and woods of their districts as they first supposed.
It is a massive, complex bit of legislation and the fact that President Trump and Congressman Paul Ryan couldn’t fix the problems in the first few months of the new administration isn’t surprising.
It is disappointing that it now seems Washington is willing to tolerate a flawed product in the Affordable Care Act because they couldn’t agree on what should come next. They have essentially thrown in the towel – leaving the country to muddle on with our current healthcare mess.
It’s unacceptable for politicians in Washington from both parties to botch a process this badly, then walk away with their hands up. Making it more frustrating is you can hear the tone in statements that the Democrats feel like they have won something and the Republicans are waiting to pounce on any problem with the ACA to assail the Democrats.
The problem of the political gamesmanship is it will be the American people who suffer, if a not a full “explosion,” certainly continued problems with our healthcare.
Imagine for a moment if instead of the talk of “death panels,” the new administration had said this: “Obama got the ball rolling on improving American healthcare, but there are some serious problems and we are going to fix them?”
Not only might the approach of fixing problems produce a more conducive environment, it would also be a lot more accurate.
It’s absolutely true that Obamacare needs serious adjustments and tinkering, but apparently the lawmakers in Washington didn’t realize that many people like the fact they got insurance for the first time through the ACA and they don’t want to change; not to mention it is proving to be less expensive than originally projected.
The Affordable Care Act did start a change/reform in healthcare in this country, but it was only a start, hopefully not set in stone.
There are very real problems with the individual cost to many people who want insurance, and the fact that some people don’t want to buy the insurance even in the face of fines and issues with other mandates. It also bodes poorly that in some states the markets are failing after insurance companies pull out.
To go back to the medical analogy earlier, it’s like a doctor saying, “Well, my first attempt didn’t stop the bleeding. Doesn’t look like this is going to turn out well, but I’m done.”
That would be unacceptable for a doctor and it’s unacceptable for our congress. Get back in there and figure out what to do.
An implosion would reflect badly on Obama’s legacy and the Democrats in the long-run, but it will also be an implosion for the businesses and people and general economy of this nation.
Be First to Comment