Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane. — Martin Luther King Jr.
I enjoyed reading William Murchison’s well-written column (3-25-17). He rails (as usual) against the healthcare welfare state from LBJ on, slamming all aspects from Medicare to Obamacare.
However, as opposed to Murchison and many of my fellow Republicans, I believe that healthcare for every American is a right. Coverage, not just theoretical “access” for everyone pushed by Speaker Ryan, can be achieved if we have the will to fight the battle.
In 1970, I was a young idealistic person working with Economic Opportunity Atlanta (EOA), the poverty program. MLK Sr. was on the board and I happened to hear him speak.
Since my time with the poverty program, I have done many things, retiring as an SVP with a national publicly held healthcare corporation.
In retirement, I more than occasionally reflect on how we are treating the less fortunate in our nation. My desire to do so is based on hearing Daddy King speak about his dead son and what he stood for. MLK Junior’s death is real to me.
Since then, we as a nation have made great strides. The election of our first black president was just one example.
We have also had many setbacks. Our recent election of a vulgar, overly nationalistic, tribalist (anything but a traditional Republican) was just one example.
As someone from an immigrant, blue collar family who grew up a few miles from where Trump did, I understand the frustration of lower middle class whites. I also understand the deep-seated prejudice that exists in that segment of America.
The election of Trump reflected both frustration with the existing power structure and bigotry. Of course, the amazingly insensitive selection by the Democrats of a cold, elitist, corporate shill was also a major factor.
However, I was hoping that once elected, Trump would try to heal our wounds and fulfill his campaign pledge about getting healthcare coverage for all Americans. It has not happened.
For example, Trump’s selection of Rep. Price for DHHS Secretary, confirmed by the Senate on a party line vote, concerns me. Murchison talks about draining the swamp in Washington, but in this case, Trump appointed an alligator who made much of his $13 million fortune while he was in office, trading stock of companies he was advocating for with the legislative and executive branches of government.
Price wants to: A. do away with Medicare (by replacing it with vouchers); B. convert Medicaid to a block grant; and C. abolish the ACA (Obamacare) which enables 22 million Americans (many of them minorities) to obtain health insurance.
He is the perfect candidate for Murchison, a wild west do it on your own guy, but not for most Americans who believe that we live in an interdependent community of people with shared values.
Frankly, as a healthcare professional with knowledge of Trump’s past healthcare positions (single payer in 2000 and covering everybody in 2016), the Price nomination surprised me. There is an obvious disconnect here versus the Trump rhetoric.
As a representative, the bill that Price introduced to replace the ACA was clear, as opposed to most GOP Congressmen who have a repeal and run away position. But, that bill was very flawed. And, it was the basis for the disastrous AHCA (American Health Care Act), the GOP reform bill that was not voted upon or passed by the House.
Price’s plan (and the AHCA) shift costs to citizens who cannot afford to purchase insurance. Price’s plan controls governmental expenditures while hurting the most vulnerable Americans, most of whom are working at low paying jobs. And, his original bill does not retain the parts of the ACA that even the GOP thinks are good, and in the AHCA, like forbidding denial of insurance due to pre-existing conditions.
And, do not be fooled by the words being used by Speaker Ryan, Price’s ally in this scheme, about having access for all. There is access now if you are wealthy, like almost all Congressmen of both parties.
Rep. Price should be commended for putting his neck out there to be chopped off. But, based on his bill, he should not have been confirmed.
The current GOP effort is nearly as bad as Price’s bill. In a nation that considers itself to be the moral beacon of the free world, we simply cannot consider a bill like the AHCA which would bring us back to over 50 million uninsured (as there was before the ACA, Obamacare).
Frankly, we should move away from the ACA; our goal should be to expand Medicare gradually so that the 30 million now without coverage can get it. Not to convert it into a subsidy program via vouchers, Ryan’s proposal, throwing tens of millions of sick people into the private insurance market knowing that they cannot get or afford private insurance.
As for those who say we can’t afford single payer, I say look at every other developed nation. They can afford single payer coverage (i.e., Medicare for all) for their citizens. And, we can cut out the middle men (i.e., private insurance companies) who take a marketing and administrative cut of up to 20 percent (it averages 12 percent), money that should be going to direct care.
More on how we can pay for Medicare expansion can be found on the website of the respected group Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), which has over 20,000 healthcare provider members. Their website is www.pnhp.org/.
Medicare was approved in the 1960s and the intention then was to eventually expand it to cover all Americans. Morally, in the most religious democracy, expansion is long overdue.
Jack Bernard
Peachtree City, Ga.
