The message could not have been any clearer. Trump promised voters one of his first acts in office would be to repeal Obamacare. It would be replaced with something “truly great.”
“We’re going to fix health care and make it more affordable and better,” Trump said throughout his presidential campaign.
Now, with only 14 days before Donald J. Trump is sworn in as our nation’s 45th president, the new congress is wasting no time in bringing out the ax to “do in” the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. Funny thing, though, they have nothing to replace it with.
After eight years of demonizing the legislation that brought healthcare coverage to nearly 20 million previously uninsured Americans; after the House voted 62 times to roll back all or part of the law; after so much time to come up with a suitable alternative, the Republicans have nothing ready to go.
The new mantra is now “repeal and delay.” And the delay could last as long as four years!
By repealing Obamacare without simultaneously replacing it, our health care system will be thrown into chaos. The lives of Americans who rely on Obamacare would be put at risk.
Many experts, from both sides of the aisle, are warning that “repeal and delay” would lead to some Americans losing insurance coverage during the delay period — either because premiums spike so high that they are unaffordable, or some areas of the country have no health insurers who want to sell plans.
How this will play out with the many Trump voters who are currently enjoying the benefits of Obamacare (even though they might not realize it) remains to be seen. But it does not promise to be good.
Ironically, before Obamacare was enacted, Republicans falsely warned Americans of the dangers of the new law. There was much talk of “death panels’* determining who would get coverage and who would not. In other words, who would live or die.
We have now finally gotten to the point where the Republican scare tactic of “death panels” has become a reality. Many Americans will lose their healthcare coverage because of Republican congressional action. Many will not get the treatments that could save them, and die.
The “death panels” we heard so much about are today suddenly very real, brought to you by the reckless, seemingly unstoppable action of our Republican Congress.
* PolitiFact.com awarded “death panels” the 2009 Lie of The Year
Photo | catholiclane.com
Yea, how many Obamacare haters would have voted for Trump if they knew it was “repeal and delay?”
Not many, I’m guessing. I’m also guessing the law will not be repealed as it will not get through the Senate.
The deplorables are learning faster and faster that their boy Drumpf was nothing but a carnival barker and snake oil salesman. I pray for this country for the next four years, as the GOP mechanically destroy all of that which was good and replace it with all of which that benefits the 1 percent ONLY.
Deplorables have been getting it up the “you know what” (without the aid of vaseline) for years by Republicans. I doubt they’ll ever get it.