Democrats Know the Solution is Medicare for All

In 2009 when the Democratic controlled Congress passed and President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, there was hope that nearly all Americans would soon be able to access healthcare, especially preventive care. It was expected that millions who had previously suffered, thousands who would have died and tens of thousands who would have gone bankrupt or heavily into debt would be able to breathe a sigh of relief. Some few claims by proponents turned out to be exaggerated but on the whole millions did indeed get health insurance at a price they could afford and had access to doctors and prescription medication previously unavailable to them. Even before the ink was dry on President Obama’s signature, Republicans in Congress and state governments began working to prevent Americans from having affordable healthcare. Governor Rick Perry declared that Texas would not expand Medicaid and thus denied one million Texans, many of them children the opportunity to see a doctor and receive adequate treatment.

If you’ve listened to their excuses for their behavior it becomes quite clear that in the conservative mind only those who have jobs with sufficient income even deserve the benefit of healthcare. Now they don’t say it outright but that’s really what it boils down to. If you get sick or have an accident you can get as much healthcare as you can pay for. It doesn’t matter how hard you work, it just matters how much you’re paid for it.

President Obama’s Affordable Care Act was an attempt to satisfy the conservative mind by retaining the capitalist model of the existing system and even making it more profitable for insurers, as they’d have more customers, while taking care of a far greater portion of the American public. It works fairly well at what it was intended to do and would work better if Republicans including the current White House resident would stop trying to break it.

The experiment has also shown us that the capitalist approach to healthcare is not the solution that Republicans claim it is. Private insurance companies drive up the cost of care in a number of ways including the right to take 20% of premiums for themselves. In addition they cost the medical profession significant amounts due to arcane billing procedures and delays in payments. Worse still private insurers often make difficult to actually receive the care we think we’re paying for by denying the treatment the doctor prescribed for any number of reasons. When Republicans were fighting the Affordable Care Act they complained about unelected bureaucrats getting between you and your doctor, I find it telling that they had no such concerns about the flunkies of profit seeking corporations getting between you and your doctor.

Democrats in Congress and the Texas legislature have come around to an idea that many in the public already had which is that the solution to the high and often unaffordable cost of healthcare is to make it a part of what you get for your tax dollars just like every other industrialized nation on earth and even places like Iraq.

In Congress, Democrats are actively pushing for a bill known as Medicare for All while in the Texas legislature we can look forward to something similar. Both bills guarantee that every resident will receive comprehensive healthcare services. Individuals will have free choice of licensed health professionals and services including vision and dental care as well as home healthcare, adult day care, and hospice.

Healthcare for millions more Americans at lower cost, what other reason do you need to vote for Democrats in November?

Published in the Seguin Gazette - August 16, 2018