Some of you may have heard it: Steve Inskeep interviewed Sen. Tim Kaine on NPR this morning about ZombieTrumpCare. What I heard disturbed me so much I decided to write to Sen. Kaine. When I got to his website there was a prominent link asking for ACA stories. Convenient. Here’s what I wrote:
“This morning I was appalled to hear NPR ask Sen. Kaine whether he was against replacing Obamacare and Sen. Kaine DID NOT ANSWER! He's in a compromising mood, working with Sen. Portman etc. The ACA is a base, not an old car to be "replaced." Replacement doesn't work without real or virtual repeal, which you've said you're against. The insurance companies and hospitals will tell you that without individual and corporate mandates universal or nearly universal health insurance is a non-starter and uncompensated care will skyrocket. Removing essential health benefits and restricting access for people with pre-existing conditions allows unscrupulous companies to sell nearly worthless insurance: people are covered until they become sick, just like before ACA. Repealing taxes that support Medicaid expansion is unconscionable. Subsidizing upper middle class young people to the detriment of poorer, older people is immoral. This is my ACA story: more people are insured with better coverage than ever before under it. Sen. Kaine, throwing the baby out with the bathwater is never a good idea. Don't replace the baby!”
Yeah, I didn’t edit it very well but you get the gist. Please, those of you who think Sen. Kaine is playing 3-D chess rather than caving, explain this to me!
Sorry: forgot the link to the interview: www.npr.org/...