Saying It's So Doesn’t Make It So!

With the evident collapse of Mitch McConnell’s attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare, now we hear he will attempt to pass a bill that repeals Obamacare without a replacement bill. That means we go back to public healthcare policy and insurance standards that existed prior to Obamacare.

McConnell’s strategy here is to then move toward a new healthcare bill that is designed from the ground up. But we know that won’t happen. Congress doesn’t invent things very well other than problems. Trying to cohesively solve problems is not one of their strong suits. Alas, but it is true!

The point of today’s blog isn’t the above; rather it is about the rhetoric and language used by republicans concerning Obamacare. Mitch has repeatedly stated Obamacare is failing and collapsing. He and his colleagues (including the current White House resident) claim the same. Trouble is it is not the truth.

Obamacare was enacted after many attempts at compromise; finally it was passed with compromises and missing parts. This was true so republicans would vote for the bill. Although they hated to do so, they ultimately agreed to the bill in weakened form hoping it would fall apart in operation. They hoped for a collapse regardless of what that would cost individual Americans and the federal government.

Surprise! Obamacare started rockily due to glitches in the computer platform, but it stabilized and thrived. It became a success. Some changes were adopted to smooth its operation but all in all, even in a weak position, the program worked and was gratefully accepted by the American people. The hoped-for collapse did not materialize.

Republicans, however, refused to believe this and said the opposite. They consistently claimed the program was failing and refused to do anything to fix it. With all this brouhaha going on, insurance companies became nervous and began to pull out of some states, thrusting the program into a serious bout of higher premiums for some people. The truth is, however, that most insurance exchanges throughout the nation are doing pretty well despite the negative rhetoric. Those insurance companies who remain in the exchanges or return to abandoned ones, are doing quite well.

In short, the American people like Obamacare and wish Congress would tweak it to strengthen it where it is wanting. Republicans know exactly where those fixes are needed because they put them there in the first place!

So, saying something is so does not mean it is so. This is 2017 and the republicans are in control of the House, Senate and White House. They are arguably in control of the Supreme Court. So what they say may seem persuasive but the facts belie their statements.

Interesting time we are living in. All because some people don’t trust their own government. Funny. When they should have been paying attention they didn’t. They trusted their elected representatives who were not truly representing them, only their own selfish interests. And now that the government is out of whack and can’t make things happen properly, they mistrust their government?

Seems to me they are the cause of the current situation.

We all need to go back to our Civics Classes and relearn how the nation functions. Ours is a nation OF, BY and FOR the People. It is not of, by and for the representatives. They only do our bidding, not the other way around.

If you are unhappy with your life because of poor housing values, low wages and household incomes, poor motivation among employers and employees, you need to pay attention and do some reading. There are fixes to all of the above. Allowing someone else to do your work and make your value judgments for you, is NOT the way to fix things.

Avoid the liberal and conservative biases. Return to the middle road to regain a better perspective of what needs to be done. Our system of government cannot be done by robots. It requires caring, intelligent people dedicated to studying the issues honestly to guide the representatives to reasonable decisions supporting reasonable solutions. That is not being done currently.

It’s time we got back to the basics and back to work.

If your response to this is a nasty sound bite, forget it. You are part of the problem! Sound bite people don’t solve problems, they continue them.

So let the grownups in the room get to work. The rest of you go outside and stare at the sun.

July 19, 2017