Letter to the Editor: Activists right on Senate health care bill

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The Republican Senate today released their draft of the American Health Care Act, which is intended to replace the the existing Affordable Care Act. Polls show that a majority of Americans are in opposition to the House version of this legislation, and with good reason. There is no guarantee of coverage for preexisting conditions; Medicaid would be cut by over $800 billion; programs like Planned Parenthood would be defunded; and insurance premiums are expected to go up, not down. All of these cuts are deemed necessary to fund an enormous tax break for some of our wealthier citizens.

If you are outraged at the secret process by which the Senate came up with these cuts to healthcare, what are you going to do about it? We could take a lesson from the courageous activists with disabilities, who staged a peaceful demonstration outside Senator McConnell’s office today. Capitol police removed the demonstrators, handcuffing some people in wheelchairs and carrying others out by force. These demonstrators are some of the American citizens who stand to lose the most from the proposed Medicaid reductions, and they were willing to face injury and arrest to make their point. We should all be humbled and inspired by their leadership.

Henry Washburn
New Sharon

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42 Comments

  1. Do you remember the remarkable words of The House Speaker talking about what was in the Democrat’s Obama Care Bill? She said that we have to pass the bill in order to find out what is in it. Hypocrisy is afoot in Washington. The final Republican bill is not even in hand. The House and Senate reconciliation has not even been done yet.

  2. Where were you Mr Washburn when Nancy Pelosi stated that we need to pass ACA to see what is in ACA? Democrats passed the ACA in a special session without a single Republican on board. Apparently it is ok as long as it is the side that you agree with. Not a single hearing was held before Obamacare took over a sixth of the economy. Passing legislation behind closed doors must be ok if it is a Democrat doing it.

  3. You two: Don’t you know it’s bad form to call out leftie hypocrites? You’ll be called names, like bully, racist, deplorable, etc., at the LEAST!

  4. Or could those “demonstrators” have been on Soros’ and/or DNC payroll, perhaps with direction/script provided by Robert Creamer! See his and Scott Foval’s internet videos on their dirty tricks and/or fraudulent political activities on behalf of the “democrats”.

  5. I understand that Creamer visited the Obama White House about 300 times, and met directly with Obama at least 70-80 times.

  6. Can the House and Senate reconcile, before the Senate votes? Gee I thought there was a process for each to propose their own, vote to pass it, and then reconciles. Should we just skip the Senate vote? and go straight to reconciling? What does the CBO say for costs and benefits?

    Should we treat today like it was 8 years ago?

  7. You are right Arnold. I was wrong to point out the GLARING hypocrisy of Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats. I confess that It was deplorable of me. It is sometimes rude to point out the obvious and I should not have not have pointed out her view. I have to restrain myself from pointing out the Democrat’s penchant for employing the argumentum ad passioness fallacy in all their criticisms. I must exercise self control and refrain from pointing out the obvious.

  8. I’m just thankful that everyone can avoid discussing the merits of the bill. We do have a full week prior to voting. It’s much more productive to focus on ACA legislative procedure.
    Thanks guys.

    P.S.
    If you do have time, reference the article above. It points to the fact that the GOP is gutting health care for 20% of the country. It’s only poor people though, so it won’t affect this community.

  9. Here’s the chance for Susan Collins to show what it means to REALLY listen to her constituents and do the moral thing to protect those least able to protect themselves.

  10. Yes indeed this is a chance for Susan Collins to listen to me and protect those ( likemyself ) who cannot protect ourselves by getting rid of the ACA mess.
    REALLY.

    please senator Collins..don’t Jon the hypocrites.

  11. The Senate is not able to create legislation. It can decide to alter any bill proposed by the House before voting on the adjusted version of that bill. The revised bill is then returned to the House for approval. I’m just summarizing the reconciliation process for Congress.

  12. If the current version of the AHCA goes into effect our community is going to be hit hard. The AHCA guts funding for the most vulnerable via drastic medicaid reductions. This will directly impact the elderly, the poor and children in our communities. It weakens protections for any one unlucky enough to suffer from pre-existing conditions. The focus is not to provide affordable, accessible health coverage options which is what is needed here in Maine.

    My family of 4 used the ACA to access affordable coverage for multiple years while working for a small local business in this community. We had an affordable plan that did not penalize a family member for a pre-existing condition. Without the ACA, we would not have had access to vital medications and services.

    If it is true that the ACA needs restructuring to stabilize the markets then Congress should do that. Gutting funding while providing tax breaks to the top 2% is not going to do that. The focus needs to be on providing affordable coverage for all and protection for those with pre-existing conditions.

  13. …… It is not the ACA… It has been changed to UCA… U for unaffordable…. For that you can thank the famous BO that was in the White House for 8 years… It was his baby..

  14. On June 23, a grass roots advocacy Maine Providers Standing Up for Healthcare presented at a press conference at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston’s Family Residency program, to call on Senator Susan Collins to vote no on the cruel Republican wrong minded insurance plan. We asked to to oppose the repeal of the successful Obamacare plan, that Republicans want to replace by taking coverage away from many millions of Americans and driving up insurance costs for others. So far, we are thankful that Senator Collins is listening to her constituents. Let’s follow Henry Washburn’s good advice and demand accountability from others in Congress, who have their health benefits paid for by taxpayers. Republicans like Senator Mitch McConnell do not extend the same entitlement they receive from taxpayers to their constituents, who have a right to access quality and affordable health care.

  15. @ Juliana According to some people congress has to buy into obamacare. And i beg to differ that it is successful.

  16. hypocrisy indeed. the pelosi quote bill mentions seems lately to be running off the lips of republicans almost as quickly as defenses of recent presidential gaffes and improprieties. it might be as iconic and irrelevant a retort as questioning what the meaning of “is” is. i’m not willing to believe bill is this dense or that he can’t remember the early debate around the aca, so i suspect he’s either being lazily flippant or willfully dishonest in suggesting such a comparison. i remember those remarkable words, bill. i also remember, skeptically intrigued by conspiracy theories being peddled by elected officials regarding death panels and microchips, reading the bill–yes, reading the 900 page bill–which had been made available to the public well in advance of these words and of any vote. then, as now, pelosi’s words were conveniently taken out of context to further the narrative of the right that the legislation was mysterious and incomprehensible, appealing to their base’s suspicion that politics are a type of black magic, and that reading legislation was as far beyond the capabilities of the feeble-minded bumpkins who voted them into office as it was for the elected, whose job it literally was. on the other hand, the details of the gop’s latest repeal effort were made available to the public yesterday, amid concerns voiced on both sides of the aisle about hastily pushing through something that was previously unavailable to many. the republican strategy will be to ram this legislation, because it’s their only hope. will we see the final bill? we don’t know. but it’s not looking good for us bumpkins.

    http://www.snopes.com/pelosi-healthcare-pass-the-bill-to-see-what-is-in-it/

  17. Anyone who calls politicians hypocrites is probably right – and it’s just as true for each party. So that’s a pretty meaningless, mindless insult. And the silly insults above sound more like middle school taunting than serious discussion. “Our side good, their side bad…” Yawn.

    Reality: Obamacare is not a good system, but it’s a lot better than what it replaced. It needs to be improved. Rather than the stupid left vs. right name calling, which gives people a feeling of power as they ridicule the other side (and both sides do it), let’s grow up and think practically. The US spends about 17% of it’s GDP on health care. Most advanced industrialized states spend about 10%. Our numbers are middling at best, we rate rather low compared to others (and most others do not have long waits and other things that sometimes get claimed).

    So let’s compare. Some states have single payer systems, but those states tend to have more problems with bureaucracy and may not be best for the US. France, Italy and Germany have various kinds of mixed systems that work very well. For those who dislike government and like decentralization, the Swiss system covers everyone with little government intrusion – a bit more expensive than most at 13% of GDP, but cheaper than what we spend. The US is seen as having a rather inhumane health care system by foreigners. We’re the only country with medical cost bankruptcies and the only one which doesn’t see health care as akin to education and police/fire protection – something everyone should have affordable access to.

    This isn’t ideology. This isn’t left vs. right – I know some very conservative friends in Germany who strongly support their health care system. We do have vested interests – insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, etc., who influence both parties and want to make serious reform look like an attack from the left, and play on partisan fears. Don’t let them! Let’s compare what works well and doesn’t work in other countries, and see what might function here. The Swiss system might be the closest to something we could adapt. But name calling? Really? Aren’t we beyond using caps to type the name of a political party, list one of its leaders and scream “hypocrisy!” Or do people revert to middle school playground manners when posting on line….

  18. Who doesn’t know about the current high deductibles, co-pays, huge price increases, and major insurance companies dropping out in some states or dropping out of the ACA altogether? This has nothing to do with Republicans, the ACA is still intact, it has to do with market realities and supply and demand related to cost and benefits. The marvelous claims of the proponents have been proved false, and it is collapsing on its own. It reminds me of the housing debacle of a few years ago, no-down-payment, low-initial payment mortgages made to people who couldn’t afford to buy houses, raking in lots of democrat votes until that collapsed, which is exactly what is happening to the ACA today. It had little to do with mortgages or healthcare, and everything to do with democrat votes.

  19. Do the Swiss, French, Italians, and Germans have no caps on malpractice awards, so dear to the democrats and their big Trial Lawyer donors, which double malpractice insurance costs, and thus fees charged by doctors and hospitals here, which is a big part of our “17% of GDP”? That 13% GDP for the Swiss system, and the 10% for the “advanced industrial states” might be a lot higher here as a result. I expect that some of the ACA advocates here can quickly list a lot of other entitlements “akin to education and police/fire protection” – that they think “everyone should have publicly-funded access to.”

  20. Everyone already knew Collins is the Darling of the Lefties, and a rubber-stamp for their agenda, but she probably appreciates your reminding us.
    Back in the day, people bought their own health insurance, which was accepted virtually everywhere, and could choose the doctors and hospitals to go to, and we were the customers the doctors and hospitals had to please to make their livings. Now the lefties have changed that so that the government is the main customer the insurance companies deal with and try to please (Medicare, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, ACA), and the doctors and hospitals and hospitals are virtual employees of the insurance companies, and understand that their job is to minimize the costs spent for our care if they want to remain in the insurance company’s network . They TELL us what care we can have, and what prescriptions they’ll pay for, and if we want anything else, WE have to pay for it, (if the doctor or hospital will even authorize it and risk the ire of the insurance companies!) Meanwhile, Medicare and ACA excuse the massive $billions of fraudulent claims paid by saying the systems are so huge it can’t be controlled!

  21. Whatever mandatory insurance the govt. shoves down our throats, I think that if no one gets sick and uses the insurance per year, then that year, the insurance companies should reimburse people for all of those premiums. Mandatory insurance is just “Insurance Company’s’ Welfare”

  22. Nearly all of President Trump’s claims that “ObamaCare is dead” are about premiums, deductibles and choices among the ACA’s Health Insurance Marketplace plans. However, the Senate Republican plan does not repeal this part of ObamaCare.

    While the Senate bill does not repeal ObamaCare, it does not improve it either. The Senate bill would maintain the ACA’s health insurance tax credits, but at reduced levels, leaving people to spend more to get less. Marketplace spending under the bill would be about 60 percent of what is projected with no change according to CBO.

    The bill links premium tax credits to lower value and higher deductible plans and ends financial assistance that reduces cost sharing for consumers. The Senate Republican bill also zeroes out the individual mandate fee, which CBO and insurers suggest will increase premiums by about 20 percent next year. And it lowers the “failsafe” or overall cap on Marketplace financial assistance, potentially rationing Marketplace subsidies like it rations Medicaid.

    What’s more, CBO makes clear that Republicans prioritize cutting $772 billion in federal Medicaid spending, an amount that is nearly the same as every dollar spent on Marketplace financial assistance. Medicaid savings include rolling back the ACA’s coverage expansion and capping on federal Medicaid spending for the first time in the program’s history. In fact, over half of the pages in the Senate bill are devoted to Medicaid changes unrelated to the ACA.

    There’s a reason that people like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, and not just Susan Collins, are against this bill. The CBO estimates suggest that the Senate bill neither repeals nor repairs ObamaCare. But it does cap federal health spending in order to cut taxes for corporations and high-income individuals.

  23. “Back in the day, people bought their own health insurance, which was accepted virtually everywhere, and could choose the doctors and hospitals to go to, and we were the customers the doctors and hospitals had to please to make their livings.”

    ??? What era and which planet are we talking about??? Health insurance in the U.S. has long been linked to one’s employment and if you didn’t have an employer that provided health insurance benefits, tough luck. Unemployed? Disabled? Working, but no health insurance? What are you going to do if you need health care?

  24. “What era and which planet are we talking about? Health insurance in the U.S. has long been linked to one’s employment and if you didn’t have an employer that provided health insurance benefits, tough luck. Unemployed? Disabled? Working, but no health insurance? What are you going to do if you need health care?”

    For one thing, millions of individuals and families had their own Health Insurance policies, provided by many different health insurance companies, BC/BS, for example, unrelated to employment.

    As to the people referenced in the last line of the top paragraph, “On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law legislation that established the Medicare and MEDICAID programs.” Just under 52 years ago, for those with poor math skills. Those of us who are workers and taxpayers have paid the bills for those people’s Medicaid during that time, though we’ve gotten precious little credit or gratitude for it, and apparently NO credit from that commenter.

    Apparently some people are unaware of Medicaid, or think other people are.

  25. Arnold – one thing I like about Europe is they lack the “sue happy” mentality of the US. Absolutely there should be caps on malpractice awards. I took students to Italy once and we climbed a tower, that ended with a very narrow wooden ladder. “Don’t they worry about liability,” one person asked. “They just assume that people are smart enough to figure out if they want to use this ladder,” I responded. So yes, absolutely it would be good to limit such things as malpractice awards. That doesn’t come anywhere close to covering the cost difference, malpractice is not that big a proportion of the costs, however.

    But your approach is valid in noting differences. One big one is that in the US doctors have massive student loans to pay back (often due to tuition paid to universities brewing with money in large endowments). In Europe medical school is not so expensive. That is something that will prevent us from keeping the costs as low as they are elsewhere. So you’re right – we need to consider differences.

    Also, the times are much different now for health care than even 20 years ago. A large number of employers ceased covering employees (and those who do often have high rates the worker must pay). Indeed, lack of insurance coverage for the poor is one reason our health statistics end up comparing poorly to those of other states.

    I wish we could say, like all advanced industrialized states, “given our wealth and stage of development, we should have a system where health care is treated like education, fire and police protection – no one should suffer, go bankrupt or fear seeking treatment due to lack of money.” Then we could get to the nitty gritty and making something that works. Obamacare’s biggest drawback was the need to satisfy insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, etc. It’s still better than what we had, or what is now being considered, but that’s a low bar.

  26. Arnold – here’s another examples that illustrates your point. I had students in Rome and one needed to go to the doctor. We found an all night clinic. The Italian doctor listened to the symptoms and then said, “you just need this anti-biotic, I’ll write you a prescription.”

    “But aren’t you going to examine me,” the student protested.

    “No,” said the doctor, “you are at a private clinic outside the state network. If I examine you I have to charge you 200 Euros.” She looked the student in the eyes and said, “Believe me, this is right, you don’t need to pay that kind of money.”

    In the US no doctor would have done that, they’d be afraid to be sued for malpractice if something was wrong. Also, doctors here would probably not be so concerned about saving the patient money. I still don’t think that explains our extremely high costs, but it does give evidence that you have a point.

  27. @ Scott: “Malpractice is not that big a proportion of the costs?” I understand that doctor and hospital bills had to double because of uncapped malpractice insurance claims and bills. Is that not a big proportion? Wouldn’t it be great to be able to put that back the way it was?

    Does it seem odd to you that the political party that fights limits on malpractice claims blames the healthcare industry and insurance companies for high healthcare costs? They get big bucks from the Trial Lawyers, and wouldn’t like your stated agreement to limiting malpractice awards!

    It WOULD be great if there were non-profit hospitals, medical schools, and health insurance companies. I think there would be widespread support for that. Have you found that many of the thousands of doctors who went to those low-cost schools overseas charge their patients less when they come here to practice? I’m not aware of that.

    Lack of insurance coverage for the poor? What is Medicaid? If you get full coverage from Medicaid because you’re poor, how is that not “coverage”? Why would that make “our health statistics end up comparing poorly to those of other states.”?

    You seem to like to think of yourself as and talk like a Socialist, why don’t you move to a Socialist country where they actually have the things you suggest would be great here? I think we both know why. I don’t think you’d really support Socialism HERE, for the same reasons. Nice Utopian-sounding place to talk about, but you wouldn’t want to live there.

  28. Arnold, you made some sense until you came up with that “socialist” silliness at the end. I have a friend in Germany who hates socialism, is a strong conservative Catholic, and 100% in favor of the German health care system and thinks the American system is barbaric. Just because the government provides things like fire protection, legal protections, police protection, and education doesn’t mean it’s “socialism.” Every capitalist (except for extremists) wants a mix, markets as far as possible, government regulations to prevent powerful interests from dominating markets, and government to intervene in cases where markets don’t fulfill perceived needs (e.g., police protection, legal system, military, and I’d argue some roll in health care).

    Germany does have non-profit insurance companies (with incentives to keep competition real). Medicaid coverage doesn’t reach many working class poor, or lower middle class who can’t afford normal insurance and often suffer medical bankruptcies (again, no other country even has those). I’ve known working class poor who did not qualify for medicaid who did not go seek treatment because of fear of bill collectors and a destroyed credit rating. The reality is that even with medicaid, tens of millions are uncovered. Obamacare helped, but needs to be improved. I’d think both parties could put aside their ideological jihads, think pragmatically, recognize they both are well intended, and figure out a way to make something that can work.

    Partisanship is silly so I’m not going to delve in Democrat or Republican, I’ll only note that while I agree that there should be limits on malpractice, I’ve never seen anything to suggest that’s the reason the cost here is so much higher. If you have evidence it does, I’ll consider it.

  29. Arnold:

    Malpractice insurance is a drop in the bucket of what’s wrong with healthcare costs in this country.
    If you really want to lower costs, take profit out of the mix for insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
    Also, there are already statutory caps on awards in a number of states for different types of damages. Awards may also be inflated due to the high cost of future healthcare for the victims of malpractice in this country. And there’s always the fact that decrying malpractice awards says little for the underlying fact that someone was injured by malpractice. We can get rid of malpractice awards when we get rid of malpractice.

    Regardless, the GOP plan is bollocks (See my comment above). It’s a tax cut for the wealthy at the expense of millions of poor and older people’s healthcare coverage. As Sen. Collins has implied, fixing the ACA’s problems piecemeal with bipartisan support should be the alternative to the impending disaster of Trumpcare.

  30. It’s hard to have an intelligent discussion with people who say unlimited Medical Malpractice claims are a drop in the bucket, when they DOUBLE the expenses of and prices charged by doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, and drug companies because of the premiums they have to pay for Malpractice insurance, when the insurance companies have no idea how large the claims could be. I have no access to doctors, hospitals, or insurance companies Malpractice Insurance costs or additional billing charges, but I have seen articles about it many times over the years stating that bills charged/costs incurred were double what they would be if reasonable limits were put on Malpractice claims. Your doctors might give you some basics, depending on your relationship. As I didn’t KEEP those articles, and don’t remember where I saw them, I can’t direct you to them. TV and newspapers. It is pretty well known that the Trial Lawyers, who benefit greatly from unlimited lawsuits, are big donors to the “Democratic” Party. Probably just a coincidence, right? According to Forbes Magazine, Malpractice Insurance costs in 2010 were over $55 BILLION, $45 billion of which was for extra defensive lab tests, x-rays, MRI’s, CAT Scans, etc., to guard against possible Malpractice claims, which probably would not have been ordered otherwise, making medical insurance claims and insurance costs that much more expensive as well.

  31. Hypocrites calling hypocrites hypocrites. Is that what its come down to? The left this, the right that, childish name calling heavy with rhetoric and low on substance. Frankly its deplorable and if you partake in it you are part of the problem and not part of the solution. Working together across party lines is where the best chance for a better product lies- you pull the best ideas out of each side, do it with reason and compassion and in the best interest of the American people.

    Please, end the divisive hate filled spiels that seem to dominate every argument these days. Its not helpful except as therapy to the spewing individual.

  32. Obamacare isn’t a “impending disaster”, it’s imploding right now, and most people are aware of it. Republicans don’t need to kill it, it’s already served its main purpose, getting Obama and other democrats elected, and another stealthy step toward Socialism. It was planned to not all go into force until this year so that it wouldn’t die until after the 2016 election, now the lefties are trying to blame its death on Republicans, who were allowed no say in planning it!. It played a very big part in getting Republicans elected last November.

  33. Arnold: you said medical malpractice costs were $55 billion, though only $10 billion of that was due to premiums, the rest allegedly unneeded tests. If that’s true, that represents 0,3% if the US GDP. That is a tiny proportion of the costs, and not enough to explain the difference between 10% of GDP for most of the industrialized world, and 17% for the US. So your own claim seems to prove that malpractice issues are NOT a major reason for high US health care costs. I still think you have a point that those laws could be changed, but it’s not a panacea.

    Obamacare is not imploding. But working together, I’m sure we can improve it – it has real weaknesses – and join the rest of the industrialized world by assuring everyone has access to quality health care without risking bankruptcy or financial ruin.

  34. I want health Care that is affordable.
    Haven’t seen that in many years.

    Do these guys actually get their calculators out so they can out duel each other on here?
    Wow..
    Ego.

  35. I’d say Obamacare is imploding when some people’s deductibles, copays, and premiums are increasing by 20-30-40-50% per year, you can’t buy across state lines, and some states have, or soon will have, no companies selling ACA there, and some major insurance companies, like United Healthcare, as I recall, have stopped selling ACA coverage altogether! Before I’m asked for sources …………

    Why Are So Many insurers Leaving Obamacare? – The Atlantic
    https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/05/…insurers…obamacare/526137/
    May 11, 2017 – Iowa, for example, expanded Medicaid, but it has had so many insurers pull out of its exchange that there might be no Obamacare plans on …

    Obamacare Map Shows Insurers Pulling Out | The Daily Caller
    dailycaller.com/…/this-map-shows-how-many-insurers-are-pulling-out-of-obamacare/
    Jun 19, 2017 – This Map Shows How Many Insurers Are Pulling Out Of Obamacare … Major insurance companies’ exits from state exchanges in 2017 have left …

    Obamacare Implosion: Last Major Healthcare Provider Pulls Out Of …
    http://www.zerohedge.com/…/obamacare-implosion-iowa-wont-have-healthcare-access-201...
    May 3, 2017 – Unfortunately, things are likely to get even worse in 2018, even if Trump leaves … The insurers are pulling out because THEY WANT MORE …

    Call it whatever you like!

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