Liars and Taxes and Bile – Oh My

June 23, 2017

So, we have it, the Senate Republican plan to replace Obamacare is here and, as expected, it’s about the same as the House plan. There are a few cosmetic differences such as the new bill doesn’t allow insurers to dump people with pre-existing conditions like the House version did. But, it does cap how much the insurers will be compelled to pay towards those conditions. In short, they must carry pre-existing conditions, but not for very long.

Other than that, and deeper Medicaid expansion cuts and fewer tax credits, the new bill is the old bill. Both cut services and increase cost to the consumer, while reducing taxes on the well-off.

Same old, same old.

After all the drama with drafting the bill in secret, after all the Trump healthcare bravado, after the previous bill getting a whopping 17% approval, we have been presented with the same bill – just “crafted” by different guys.

I suppose that’s the plan, just keep proposing the same thing, over and over again. They expect that, eventually, we will lose interest or, maybe, die. Either way, the bill will ultimately get passed. A battle of attrition, and why not? The mass disappointment tactic’s been working with voter suppression for years.

After boring us with Trump lies and alt-right bile for two-hundred-twenty-seven days since the election, the republic is not surprised that the only issue of interest to the Republicans is lowering taxes on their patrons. They are, admittedly, disinterested in having the government involved in healthcare or any other business enterprise. It’s not their nature.

Expecting Republicans to willingly involve government in healthcare is like engaging with a disinterested, distracted, resentfully dutiful partner. Yeah, something occurs, but nothing meaningful – or even fun. They’re just not into it and should extend us the courtesy of simply saying no. That way we would have a clear choice between expecting nothing or moving on.

In Peace and Justice,
osv

PS-
Yeah, that last paragraph was full of sexual innuendo. Obviously, the Republican’s “bore us till we drift off” tactic is working and I’m running out of ways to keep the healthcare topic interesting, so have started to use less intellectual devices. I expect both trends to continue, but promise to pull up short of porn – which is more than I expect from the alt-right.