I am sitting at my computer about to write words that I didn’t think would ever make it from my fingers to the screen. “I agree with President Trump.” Wow, that wasn’t hard after all. But, I am reminded daily of his loud and frequent support for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and a more compassionate health care system. I admit that my confidence in the veracity of his statements weakened when he gathered his Republican House of Representative supporters at the White House to congratulate them for passing the American Health Care Act.
However, the president later labeled the House bill “mean” after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Committee exposed the details of the pain the bill would impose on the elderly, the sick, children and others who are the most vulnerable in our nation. At the same time, it was reported that those making $1 million per year will receive a tax cut of $17,000 this year.
Now the CBO has exposed the real impact of the Senate attempt to pass the Better Care Reconciliation Act. Like the House bill, it contains the huge tax cuts for corporations and the most well off while removing 15 million Americans from Medicaid next year and significantly raising health care costs for the elderly.
Hopefully, the president will able to influence the Republican Party to pull back from both of these bills and work for reform that will more closely align with his model of lower cost more comprehensive health care for all.
Health care is very complicated. It is past time for both parties to come together and listen to those directly involved in the medical community about ways to bring our health care system into the twenty-first century.
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