Since the GOP health bill's spectacular and hilarious crash and burn, I've read lots of celebratory pieces about the strength of Obamacare and the power of compassion over greed.
I'm sorry, but if you're drunk on champagne right now, setting TRUMP yardsigns on fire and wearing the neighbor's cat on your head, you've tragically misinterpreted the facts.
Our appeals about the the urgent need for health care were a moral win.
But it wasn't us who stopped this process in its tracks. It was members of the Freedom Caucus, who not only opposed the use of tax credits in this bill, but oppose federal funding for ANY health program -- or social services, period.
To be clear: This bill wasn't killed because it was cruel. It was killed because it wasn't cruel ENOUGH.
The "tiny splinter group" President Dwight Eisenhower dismissed as "negligible (in number) ... and stupid" has evolved since 1954. Today, they have the Cabinet, the Speaker's chair, Congress, and the offices of elected officials nationwide.
(Who knows whether the POTUS even has a coherent political ideology. But he picked the people.)
Citizens Angry About The Way Things Are have jumped on board, as has the Conservative Christian extension of the Reagan Revolution.
They believe it's immoral (if not illegal) for the Federal Government to fund health care, period. They favor ending Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security; Disability, Unemployment, and food stamps. And our Secretary of Health agrees.
In their crosshairs are virtually every institution that once provided the US the highest standard of living in the world.
They say the answer's in the free market, but no other nation trusts the market to provide for its citizens' needs.
They're a minority but an exceptionally loud, organized and powerful one. It's suicidal to pretend they're a few kooks.
Mr. Trump has said, more than once, that Obamacare should be left to "explode" so the Democrats could be blamed. (An "explosion" of the health system would kill many Americans -- but whatever.)
It doesn't matter that Obamacare isn't even in a "death spiral" at all. The spiral is already being imposed from outside.
In February, the IRS stopped inquiring filers about their insurance. This was on 45's order. It means the mandate funding Obamacare no longer includes a penalty for those who disregard it. So it's not really a mandate anymore. And this will de-fund the program.
Advertising for ACA enrollment periods has been discontinued.
And there's an ongoing appeal to a lawsuit, brought by the House against the Obama Administration, arguing the legality of subsidies -- a ruling with which this Administration agrees.
The ACA contains lots of health and safety regulations to enforce. They can't be erased, but can be rewritten.
There are countless things within the Administrstion's purview that can be altered, while leaving the ACA "in place" yet functionally absent.
It would take more effort to "fix" Obamacare than to wait for the"explosion." An industry shock to push out more insurance companies would serve nicely.
Remember the public outcry to overturn Obamacare resulted from high premiums and deductibles in some areas. There's still nothing in place to contain health care costs.
Moreover, the insurance industry came on board only after a Mandate was guaranteed and their profits estimated. Then, 31 GOP states refused the extension and exchanges. There are only 50 states!
Would partial participation by more than half the country lower insurance industry profits? And what do insurance companies do when they want higher profits? Raise premiums and deductibles.
It's clear to me the GOP set out to sabotage the ACA from Day One, yet has never been called out on it. Why on earth should we trust them to "fix" it now?
I don't have an answer to this unholy mess. I only know two things:
1) Health care may not be a Constitutional right, but it's a moral one; it also benefits a nation economically. And
2) The time for emotional appeals om behalf of the elderly, children, disabled, and poor is over. Seriously.
This is a new amalgamation of Conservative / Libertarian / Nationalist / Christian / Caucasian / Bootstrappers is also Eugenic (indirectly, but literally). It's not Republican, and it's not Conservative. It's likely to see damage to vulnerable populations as a benefit, not a problem.
Frankly, I'm now coming around to the belief that Progressives have fucked up in trying to sell the benefits of ANY universal health care system by attempting appeal to the "angels of our better nature." These people have no angels.
● We've asked the wealthy to feel guilty they're not doing more to help the poor.
● We've portrayed the poor as powerless victims who need a powerful government to give them health care and brush their teeth.
● We've extolled the success of every other modern nation in solving this problem and making their citizens happier than we are.
Guess what. Shame does not work. Guilt does not work. America is always superior to all other nations.
We have to accept that rich people, particularly these rich people, will never give a shit about poor people. Nor the middle class, for that matter.
This is the time to slay the myth that a socialist model for social programs is antithetical to Freedom, Democracy, or Capitalism.
How could this be done? By constantly repeating the fact that most of the "most Capitalist" nations in the world have wide safety nets.
They also have more social mobility and financial stability than we have. In other words, DOING WHAT OTHER NATIONS DO WOULD GIVE THESE FOLKS MORE OF WHAT THEY SAY THEY WANT.
It's a VERY long shot. But what else can we do?
WAS IT OVER WHEN THE GERMANS BOMBED PEARL HARBOR? HELL NO! **
So if you're poor, disabled, elderly, a child of low-income parents, an ethnic or religious minority, or gay or trans ... I realize you've been thrown under the bus all your life. But I'm about to throw you under the bus again (and climb under there with you, because I'm one of you).
Listen: This Administration does not give a single fuck about you. Many Administrations haven't, but this Administration gives NEGATIVE fucks about you.
And a pretty large percentage of the American public gives even FEWER fucks about you.
The fight to save the ACA temporarily until we can move to a universal system can't be about our pathetic selves anymore. It has to be about Them.
So we have to shut up about being sick and cold and hungry. We're only making things worse.
You see, it's not Obamacare that's ready to explode, but the entire, unsustainable American health care industry. It's the biggest employment sector in the nation.
If millions of people can no longer afford health care, the layoffs and closed facilities will have a devastating effect on the economy.
Universal care is business-friendly and pro-entrepreneutal. It would relieve employers of the cost and responsibility of providing employee benefits.
It would stimulate the economy by allowing more people to strike out on their own, to found their own companies and follow the American Dream.
There are plenty of Conservative arguments in favor of universal care, including the fact that taxpayers would no longer foot the bill for all the problems that arise from those who aren't insured.
To hell with the poor and the frail. To hell with trying to make the rich feel guilty. This is about personal and fiscal responsibility.
Let's do it.
I'll join y'all under the bus in a minute. Let me just grab another bottle of champagne.
~Teresa Bryan Peneguy
**Whoops! Guess I threw some people with this one.
I do know the Japanese, not the Germans, bombed us at Pearl Harbor.
The orange text is a link to a 53-second video clip that's the source of the phrase. It's from "Animal House," 1978.
The John Belushi character is giving his depressed frat a peptalk, and references a number of historical events that never happened ... like when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. And we didn't give up.
Wednesday, Mar 29, 2017 · 8:19:35 PM +00:00 · TeeBryanToo
UPDATE
March 29
Nobody knows how this thing is going to shake out 'till it shakes out. And to be clear, I'm a journalist -- but politics has always been my interest, not my beat. I have lots to learn as I go. But here's what's transpired over the last few days...
Some GOP states are considering expanding Medicaid, and that is a good sign. (Bernie starting to make Republicans consider single-payer is a fantastic sign. There is a very strong Conservative case to be made for it. But that's for the future...after a lot of people could be dead.)
I've seen some super-optimistic articles about the staying power of the ACA.TOO optimistic, I think. I WANT to believe they're right and I'm wrong, but they all seem to be missing something.
A piece by a staff writer at SALON caught my eye. Its premise: The ACA is safe, because 45 would have to take a number of steps to get rid of it, and it would be too disruptive.
Unfortunately, he didn't seem aware that 45 had ALREADY taken these steps, his first few days in office. Also, I don't think "disruptive" is something this President worries about.
Yesterday -- apparently not having been mauled by the hounds severely enough -- Ryan announced that he will try another repeal/replace bill this year, possibly in the fall. (The man loves pain. I do not want to know about his sex life.)
Today, House Republicans confirmed what Ryan said.
So did 45, who in his delusion, said a he knows a bipartisan health care plan is right around the corner: "That’s such an easy one, so I have no doubt that that’s going to happen very quickly.”
In other news, Rep. Mo Brooks, of the Goddamned Freedom Caucus, said he plans to file a discharge petition to force a vote on full repeal of Obamacare (as in, no replacement).
It doesn't matter these things have a snowball in hell's chance of ever HAPPENING. The ANNOUNCEMENTS will be extremely bad news for the insurance industry.
Carriers were already forced to postpone planning for the next Fiscal Year because the GOP couldn't get its shit together. Some pulled out during the drama, and it would be surprising if these new reports didn't encourage more defections.
There IS a tipping point at which so many carriers have pulled out that Obamacare can't survive, with or without a repeal. I don't know what that tipping point is, though.
Here's the thing:
Even though he doesn't believe it, 45 has been wrong about EVERYTHING HE'S SAID SO FAR. His devotees might enjoy it if he were actually RIGHT about something. For once.
I read the full transcript of 45's statement to the media the day the bill failed. He says "Obamacare will explode" EIGHT TIMES. Several of those times, he says it will be "soon." A few times he insinuates that it will be in 2017.
THIS is actually something over which he has some control. And he has little incentive to use it by protecting Obamacare (which is NOT exploding, by the way).
The effort would be in keeping it going. If the House appeal is simply dropped; if enrollment advertising is not renewed; if the current order to the IRS not to collect information for tax penalties isn't reversed...
Maybe 45 will schedule all these tasks for one day, and that day will turn out to be an exceptionally nice day for golf.
Monday, Apr 10, 2017 · 5:35:02 AM +00:00 · TeeBryanToo
Two updates:
The good news first (possibly):
I had written that the IRS had stopped collecting insurance information from tax filers back in February, essentially destroying the mandate.
I read recently that order was never actually implemented.
So it may not be happening -- but I'm not finding a definitive source.
The shitty news:
I'm confused as to why there's not much media coverage on this. In fact I'm confused about the whole thing. So it's sketchy.
Ryan and his minions have attempted to appease the Gods of Deprivation twice more, with two more plans each more dastardly than the last.
A few days ago they came up with one sufficiently satanic. So satanic the Liberty Caucus said they would approve it.
The one thing they liked about ACA was that it allowed kids to stay on their folks' plans until age 26. To keep that, they created two other provisions:
1. Invisible high-risk pools for those with very expensive health conditions. Apparently these are so expensive it's even less likely the government will keep up payments. But I have read four articles now and I still don't get it. How do they work? What is the difference between these and regular high-risk pools? Are they called "Invisible" because they are for the invisible people they hate so much?
Also, I've heard more discussion of the really obvious fact that single payer is something Conservatives should LIKE, and a few have come to the party. But time is running short.
2. States can say, Fuck hospitals, or Fuck the mentally ill. My understanding is that each state can now decide whether whether or not their insurance carriers are required to cover emergency care, hospitalization, pregnancy and childbirth, mental health and prescription drugs.
These are some of the most common, but expensive, services insurance companies cover. Gee, insurance would be so much cheaper without them!
...In the same way an airplane would be less expensive without an engine and wings.
People don't get insurance for annual checkups. They get it for stuff like this.
If you are silly, and you want those kinds of things covered, you'll be able to buy coward insurance from a smaller group of carriers ... for a price.
I realize this area was less regulated before Obamacare. However, if this plan causes enough dropouts and raises costs as much as it's likely to, I wouldn't be surprised if these useless plans become the norm.
They planned to vote before Easter break and didn't. I assume they will vote when they get back.
You know these hypocritical bastards will attend Easter services just to be seen. Please pray that the Risen Christ will appear to them and inform them they'll go straight to hell if they don't come up with universal care.
If you have comments, corrections or additions, please comment below.
Thursday, Apr 13, 2017 · 5:19:19 PM +00:00 · TeeBryanToo
April 13: Oh, Christ.
So now 45 wants to hold payments to carriers to force Democrsts to the table. The man and his administration are evil. There is no other word, as I've said all along. It's why his Presidency is as tragic as it is.
ASAAD KILLED HIS PEOPLE
How ironic he doesn't even see that he's doing something similar to what Asaad did -- his citizens (many of whom voted for him!) will unnecessarily become ill and die -- not of gas, but scores more, and over decades. Dead is dead.
While Progressives were celebtating victory the day the GOP health bill failed, I predicted in this Daily Kos piece he'd drag his feet too long for the insurance industry).
COVERAGE TO BE HELD HOSTAGE
I wasn't cynical enough to think he'd hold payments hostage to force the Democrats to compromise on a bill that will make insurance LESS available than under Obamacare.
We are already months behind the insurance industry's deadlines for planning FY 2018. Because this is a Capitalist plan, not a Socialist one, private companies have every right to refuse clients they doubt will pay from.
This game could result in many, or most, carriers pulling out NOW. You'd go to an appointment and find you have no insursnce. Premiums will increase for ALL Americans. And just like the San Francisco earthquake and Pompeii, it will be Obana's fault.
EACH GOP PLAN HAS GOTTEN WORSE FOR MOST AMERICANS
By the way, the current version of the GOP bill (the third or fourth) would further endanger those with pre-existing conditions.
Even better, it would give each state the right to decide whether or not to require its insurance providers to cover emergency care, hospitalization, childbirth, mental health, and prescriptions.
What a stellar idea. These areas are the most expensive, and insurance would cost MUCH less without them. In the same way, that is, an airplane without an engine and wings would cost less.
Of course, most people don't buy insurance for their annual physical. They buy it for the kinds of care above. These will still be available, but with fewer options and at a premium price.
Thank God the GOP is loosening us from the shackles of the ACA!
IVANKA CRIED FOR SYRIAN CHILDREN
I understand pretty little Ivanka saw photos of dead Syrian children that upset her, and she pushed Daddy to send the bombs. (This act has now has thawed Cold War relations with Russia and is moving us closer the two nations to war).
Too bad Ivanka didn't remember these are the VERY SAME CHILDREN her Daddy won't allow into the US for safety.
Too bad she hasn't seen photos of American children malnourished in Appalachia; elderly Americans with dementia living on New York streets because they can't pay for a nursing homes; or dead preemies babies in Milwaukee, which now has a Third-World infant mortality rate that's WORSE than in Libya, Cuba, and Ukraine.
TOO MANY STILL DON'T REALIZE THE GOP PLAN WILL MAKE THE ACA LOOK LIKE A GIFT FROM THE GODS
And yet to this day, Trump's supporters are still cheering on the death of an imperfect-but-reparable health law, and the replacement that will make everything immeasurably worse for most of them.
I doubt whether they even realize that one providers are gone, they're not coming back. (And the same is true of Medicaid, which is being propped up by Obamacare funding.)
Yet many people STILL don't know that. Nor do many people realize, even now, the ACA they like is just another word for the Obamacare they hate.
And their elected GOP officials won't tell them. The lies are 10 miles thick on this one.
FACTS FROM HIS ASS
Yesterday, on Twitter, I saw a Republican citizen Tweeting about a Wall Street Journal poll that found that "only 4% of Americans think Obamacare is working for them." He also said that 50,000 people had lost their insurance due to ACA.
But the silly guy didn't include a link. I looked up the poll myself. He had forgotten a digit -- 45%, not 4%, approve of Obamacare, while 50% "have little or no trust in the GOP plan." And only 17% want to see the ACA repealed.
No wonder he didn't include a link. And he clearly assumed his friends would be too stupid to Google.
Regarding his second claim, it's vital to understand people lost specific plans that were below standard. But the VAST majority did not lose COVERAGE. They were able to get different policies from the same carrier, or choose one from a different carrier. The subsidies helped them make up the cost difference.
A study by The Urban Institute revealed that 2.6 million people lost PLANS. Not COVERAGE. Some did lose coverage, but no where near the numbers claimed. And many CHOSE to take the penalty (a whopping 1% of incone) instrad.
BETTER OFF NOW OR WORSE OFF?
The Department of Health and Human Services reports a NET increase of 20 million people have insurance today because of the ACA. There is disagreement about the exact number, but NO methodology shows the US has FEWER insured because of it.
Further, I could find no reference anywhere to a 4% approval rating or a loss of coverage for 50 million people.
The man simply pulled these numbers out of his ass. So, I made a graphic with his Tweet, the correct info, and the words, HE'S EITHER STUPID OR A LIAR. I Tweeted it to all the people he'd Tweeted to.
Will he be mad as hell? Good! I hope he is. PEOPLE WILL DIE BECAUSE OF THESE LIES. I've had enough.
THIS DID NOT NEED TO HAPPEN
NO ONE disputes Obamacare needed fixing. And it is fixable. The bottom line is the most powerful Republicans hold a new philosophy that the Government should spend ZERO DOLLARS on health care. How do you negotiate with that?
And the bottom-bottom line is that A) The insurance industry agreed to participate in 2010 after a Mandate was promised, and after approval of expected profits.
THEN B) all the GOP Governors -- more than half the states -- refused the exchanges and the Medicaid expansion. This decision directly affected the profits the carriers had counted on.
As with many such situations, the Obama Administration never came out and said, "It's the GOP'S fault." It should have.
WHY THE HELL IS THIS EVEN PARTISAN?
Unless Republicans never get severe or life-threatening illnesses, never have children with multiple disabilities, never have lapses in coverage, and never will require nursing care, HEALTH CARE IS NOT A PARTISAN ISSUE. And it NEVER should have become one.