Our National Health Care Situation
Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2023 3:39 pm
I originally wrote this in response to other posts in one of the "non-political" forums. It loses a bit in the transition, but hopefully still makes a point, and starts a constructive discussion.
...And, not to get "partisan", but in 1945, almost 80 years ago, democratic President Harry Truman, only 7 months into his presidency, proposed a "universal national health insurance program". In his remarks to Congress, he declared, “Millions of our citizens do not now have a full measure of opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health. Millions do not now have protection or security against the economic effects of sickness. The time has arrived for action to help them attain that opportunity and that protection.”
(Isn't that what you (pdub) and Tdub are talking about? Not being able to get the health care you need because it's too expensive?)
Twenty years later, in July of 1965, against massive opposition, when democratic President Lyndon Baines Johnson formally signed the Medicare and Medicaid programs into law in Independence, Missouri, former president Harry S. Truman and his wife, Bess, looked on with pride. As LBJ handed “Give ‘Em Hell Harry” and Bess the pens he used to affix his signature to the document, the President proclaimed Mr. Truman as “the real daddy of Medicare.”
Does anyone recall the demagoguery republicans deployed against President Obama when he proposed the Affordable Care Act? Much like when Johnson created Medicare and Medicaid, there was unrelenting negative catastrophizing by the opponents, republicans, talking about how it will be the end of western civilization, America, as we've known it. Back in the '60s, the opponents warned that all the physicians in America would quit if Medicare/Medicaid passed. "Socialism!" (One of their preferred propaganda terms.)
Republicans have run on repealing the ACA for multiple election cycles, and tried to repeal it in congress more than 60 times. Some republicans still talk about repealing it to this day! (Newsweek "found at least 70 republican-led attempts to repeal, modify, or otherwise curb the ACA, since its inception into law on 3/23/2010".)
A clear majority of Americans like the ACA. As of early 2023, more than 40 million Americans have health insurance coverage under the ACA, the highest total on record. As of early 2022, the national uninsured rate in the US reached an all-time low. 92% of enrollees have access to options from three or more insurance co.s, which they can compare to each other at healthcare.gov.
Affordable Care Act health plans are most popular among people in states where the law is least popular among politicians and ACA enrollments have climbed under Biden, according to new charts from Steve Rattner.
2/2/23 Red states see highest Affordable Care Act enrollment rates
So, with all due respect, please don't give me this generic "rich guys*", "congress", "the government", and/or "lobbyists", i.e., "both sides do it", excuse. Please. Because it's not being real, it's falling for the republican propaganda.
If one of your wishes as an American is to have a more comprehensive national health insurance program like "Medicare for All" available to chose from, do I need to tell you who to vote for?
Pro tip: Americans absolutely love Medicare.
*Which is not to say there aren't rich democrats who oppose it, but still, they aren't the problem. (Dear Joe Manchin, stfu!)
...And, not to get "partisan", but in 1945, almost 80 years ago, democratic President Harry Truman, only 7 months into his presidency, proposed a "universal national health insurance program". In his remarks to Congress, he declared, “Millions of our citizens do not now have a full measure of opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health. Millions do not now have protection or security against the economic effects of sickness. The time has arrived for action to help them attain that opportunity and that protection.”
(Isn't that what you (pdub) and Tdub are talking about? Not being able to get the health care you need because it's too expensive?)
Twenty years later, in July of 1965, against massive opposition, when democratic President Lyndon Baines Johnson formally signed the Medicare and Medicaid programs into law in Independence, Missouri, former president Harry S. Truman and his wife, Bess, looked on with pride. As LBJ handed “Give ‘Em Hell Harry” and Bess the pens he used to affix his signature to the document, the President proclaimed Mr. Truman as “the real daddy of Medicare.”
Does anyone recall the demagoguery republicans deployed against President Obama when he proposed the Affordable Care Act? Much like when Johnson created Medicare and Medicaid, there was unrelenting negative catastrophizing by the opponents, republicans, talking about how it will be the end of western civilization, America, as we've known it. Back in the '60s, the opponents warned that all the physicians in America would quit if Medicare/Medicaid passed. "Socialism!" (One of their preferred propaganda terms.)
Republicans have run on repealing the ACA for multiple election cycles, and tried to repeal it in congress more than 60 times. Some republicans still talk about repealing it to this day! (Newsweek "found at least 70 republican-led attempts to repeal, modify, or otherwise curb the ACA, since its inception into law on 3/23/2010".)
A clear majority of Americans like the ACA. As of early 2023, more than 40 million Americans have health insurance coverage under the ACA, the highest total on record. As of early 2022, the national uninsured rate in the US reached an all-time low. 92% of enrollees have access to options from three or more insurance co.s, which they can compare to each other at healthcare.gov.
Affordable Care Act health plans are most popular among people in states where the law is least popular among politicians and ACA enrollments have climbed under Biden, according to new charts from Steve Rattner.
2/2/23 Red states see highest Affordable Care Act enrollment rates
So, with all due respect, please don't give me this generic "rich guys*", "congress", "the government", and/or "lobbyists", i.e., "both sides do it", excuse. Please. Because it's not being real, it's falling for the republican propaganda.
If one of your wishes as an American is to have a more comprehensive national health insurance program like "Medicare for All" available to chose from, do I need to tell you who to vote for?
Pro tip: Americans absolutely love Medicare.
*Which is not to say there aren't rich democrats who oppose it, but still, they aren't the problem. (Dear Joe Manchin, stfu!)
