Letter: Full repeal of Obamacare only way to healthcare reform
At the Freedom Makers of Dubois County’s monthly meeting on March 11th, those in attendance agreed our group should put forth an official statement on the House Speaker Paul Ryan led American Health Care Act, a.k.a. AHCA. In short, our group does not believe the bill will repeal Obamacare or reduce the financial burden on Americans. We believe it does not fulfill the 7-plus years of promises from elected Republicans who pledged to remove Obamacare.
This isn’t something said lightly. One of the many reasons we didn’t come out hard against the AHCA early on was because every bill can change as it goes through legislative processes. Many of us held out hope the proposals from groups and people like the House Freedom Caucus, or Senator Rand Paul would be heard. Instead, we see the bill pushed through committee with no intention of real reforms, or hearing alternative ideas.
This bill keeps the worst parts of the Affordable Health Care Act, or Obamacare, intact. The bill’s reforms are small and do nothing to address the government interference in the private pursuit of an individual’s right to live how they want. While this last statement is wide ranging, the AHCA does nothing to bring reform to a system that was perverted multiple times, starting as far back as 1943 under FDR.
We as a group believe there should be a full repeal of Obamacare. Once that is gone, a debate on how healthcare and health insurance should function can begin. Many of us believe health care and health insurance should lie in the control of the individual and their family, and function in some fashion as life and auto insurance do today.
Only at this point can your freedom can be more fully realized and costs truly be reduced and transparency achieved. You must now be vocal to your elected officials to stand up for full repeal, and nothing less. The past and current system never worked, it is time for real reform.
On behalf of the Freedom Makers of Dubois County leadership and many of its members,
Adrian Engelberth, President
The only way to reform health care is to keep government out of health care. The mix of government and some other agencies just don’t often work well.
The full repeal of Obamacare required the Congress to offer up an alternative through budget reconciliation. If it offered up no alternative then the Senate would have required a 60 vote threshold to kill it and that isn’t going to happen. That alternative then had to be scored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) as an alternative that reduced the budget deficit. The Paul Ryan bill did reduce spending and can now move forward to the house floor. The key figure in the CBO grading was by how much the Ryan bill reduced the deficit. Once the CBO gave the green light of the initial bill coming out of committee then the bill heads to other committees for review. Currently the savings on the bill is $30B per year and now allows for amendments that can reduce the savings even further. Look for block grants on Medicaid going to the states to write the bill to reduce their costs. Already some Tea Party House Representatives are getting what they want and the bill is winning approval. Look for the bill to hit the House for a vote the last week of March.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/norquist-this-week-guaranteed-trumps-re-election-gop-gains-in-2018-and-2020/article/2617794
If the House doesn’t get in line with what the Senate and the White House are advocating the repeal and replace of Obamacare will fail and Obamacare will fail without a replacement. Without a replacement the bill would require a 60 vote approval in the Senate and the replacement would also be subject to the same 60 vote approval. The Republicans, who had 6 years to come up with a plan, will get pounded in the 2018 elections if they can’t repeal and replace with the 51% majority they now get via Reconciliation, the window for doing so will close.
Daryl Hensley – Jasper
Donald Trump was elected on the promise to repeal Obamacare. Later, the words “and replace” were added. I agree with the Freedom Makers and Rand Paul – – – Government healthcare must be eliminated completely.
So why would many Republicans support a replacement. The reason is simple. When the uninsured show up at hospitals and clinics for treatment and they cannot pay; the Federal Government and the State Government pick up 75%-85% of the unpaid medical costs. This was to the tune of $75B a year. The other 15%-25% was being charged to the insured patients to make up for the losses. The reason many republicans want to have some form of a replacement is that it is cheaper to buy insurance for those who can’t afford it vs paying the bill for those who won’t pay their medical bills. Most of those who do not pay (elderly and poor children) actually file bankruptcy and increase the costs to the taxpayer in working the bankruptcy through the courts. Medical bankruptcy make of 50% of all the cases in bankruptcy court.
The state governors have done the math and it is cheaper to provide some form of health coverage to the poor then picking up the $75B in uninsured costs. The cost to handle the medical bankruptcy’s is over $1B per year. The replacement bill is in the neighborhood of $75B but the reductions in regulations, that will come from Health and Human Services, should drive the premiums down and the total cost below to $70B. This will save the states and federal government $5B per year plus the $37B per year in budget deficit reduction in repealing Obamacare.
Illegal immigration costs states and federal government $113B per year in goods and services. The illegal immigrant tax payer returns to the government $13B per year for a net loss of $100B per year.
Now you can see why our budget deficit is at $20T in debt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_impact_of_illegal_immigrants_in_the_United_States
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK221653/
http://kff.org/uninsured/fact-sheet/key-facts-about-the-uninsured-population/
http://kff.org/uninsured/report/uncompensated-care-for-the-uninsured-in-2013-a-detailed-examination/
https://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/governmental_legislative_work/priorities_policy/independence_of_the_judiciary/federal-court-funding.html
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/13/cbo-says-millions-lose-health-insurance-under-gop-obamacare-replacement.html
Daryl Hensley – Jasper
I couldn’t disagree more. Free enterprise may do a good job of rationing goods and services when one is buying a car or a smart phone or a new suit, but it fails miserably when asked to efficiently allocate health care. Name one country in the entire world that successfully provides healthcare to its citizens based upon a pure free market/no government participation model. There are none.
Health is a human right. It is not a privilege.
Hey Scott….
Scott, health is not a human right. Many are born and will remain unhealthy or disabled. Being healthy is a privilege that many need to work toward and others will never obtain do to genetics and birth defects.
As long as the Federal Government requires the uninsured to be treated, Our shores will be a priority for those seeking the big lottery ticket of coming to America. We offer welfare to the children of illegal alien parents born in the US. We offer other services at taxpayer expense and the CHIPS healthcare program for those children born in the US to illegal alien parents.
Immigrants were always welcome when they came here with no assistance and secured a job from a host citizen. Millions of people have come here legally asking for no financial assistance and securing employment and public assistance to the tune of $113B per year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_impact_of_illegal_immigrants_in_the_United_States
“Health is a human right. It is not a privilege.” I will take that one step further…”Life is a human right. Murder is not a privilege. Abortion stops a beating heart. Pro-Life!
Abortions are used too often as a form of contraception. Use a condom so you don’t commit murder. There might be less abortions if it were easier & less expensive to adopt from right here in the USA? There are tens of thousands who can’t have children & would love to adopt!
Daryl,
I apologize. What I meant to say was “access” to healthcare. Otherwise it makes no sense for the reasons you pointed out.
However, to your point concerning public assistance going to the children of unlawful aliens born in the United States: these children are persons under the Fourteenth Amendment and, thus, are American citizens by operation of law. It is unfair to carve out a definitional exception for them as opposed to all those who unfortunately must rely on TANF, SNAP, and other government benefits to survive. There is no subset. Until there is judicial interpretation or a federal statute to the contrary, they are all citizens receiving pubic assistance.