Thursday, July 27, 2017

Health care fantasyland

obamacare-cartoon-1

The New York Times, a.k.a. the paper that will defend Obama’s legacy down to the last executive order, has attacked the GOP Senate over its health care vote. 
This is a bit of the editorial:  
The details are complicated, but most Americans understand that these proposals would be incredibly cruel and needlessly devastating, which is why polls have shown that few people support the partisan repeal effort. 
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found just 28 percent supported the Senate bill to repeal and replace the A.C.A., while 71 percent wanted Republicans and Democrats to work together to improve the law.
The Times regrets the lack of bipartisanship and what they refer to as “the travesty”.
 
First of all, I’ve been looking all morning for an editorial from 2009-10 condemning the partisanship of Democrats in passing the AHCA. I cannot find any. Perhaps they meant to print it and forgot about it.
The Times must think that we’ve been living in some health care paradise since the AHCA went into effect. On the contrary — Obamacare has meant high premiums, deductibles, and insurance companies bailing out here, there, and everywhere. I’d be happy to introduce one of their reporters to a young couple in our area who simply cannot afford it.  It’s tough to afford an insurance premium that exceeds your mortgage payment.
Second, these Obamacare polls are complete nonsense. Most Americans are not under Obamacare. In other words, they have employment-based coverage. According to a recent study, 49% of Americans have group coverage. Medicaid and Medicare add up to 34%. In other words, about 15% of Americans are impacted by Obamacare. 
How can you do a poll on Obamacare when 85% of Americans are not under it? It’s possible that some of those under Medicaid started out looking for Obamacare but that’s still only 20%. Again, how can you take “popularity polls” about something that most Americans are not participating in?
As far as these polls, let’s remember what David Harsanyi, Senior Editor at The Federalist, just wrote:  
It is true that Obamacare repeal legislation — whatever the specifics happen to be — is going to be unpopular. 
Why wouldn’t it be? 
It’s not merely the revisionism practiced by many in the media in regards to Obamacare. If people are persistently told that the GOP is preparing to “slash” Medicaid by a bazillion dollars and “revoke” the insurance of 26 million people, the average voter has every reason to be concerned. 
And if there isn’t a single Republican lawmaker out there effectively slapping down these misleading claims, voters will be. Republicans certainly can’t rely on factcheckers.
The GOP has done a lousy job of countering all of these claims about the consequences of repealing Obamacare. My hope is that they will start doing so now that there is a plan that they can put their signature on.
Last, but not least, the GOP keeps winning special elections where the Democrat runs protecting Obamacare. The GOP is also raising more money than the Democrats. These two facts tell you all you need to know about these polls that claim that Americans have fallen in love with the Obamacare that they hated for years.
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
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