I must commend Cal Beverly and The Citizen. He has the guts to put opposing viewpoints in his letters section (if not the editorials, maybe someday …) and to disagree based on clearly enunciated principles. Agree or not, we all know where Mr. Beverly is coming from and his well-thought-out rationale. Not so for some others, including Ralph Hudgens, Georgia Insurance Commissioner, as shown in his April 19 column.
Hudgens advocated for a state takeover of insurance regulation to the exclusion of the feds. However, he never clearly states any benefits, just vague theory and ideology.
I was Director of Health Planning for Georgia. Yes, federal regs are a pain. But, many of them protect consumers versus loose politicized state regs.
And, frankly, I question Mr. Hudgens real agenda. From his writings here and elsewhere, I believe that he cares little about whether or not Georgians have coverage (versus just theoretical access). He also has many incorrect or misleading statements.
Yes, premiums are up under Obamacare, but 85 percent of enrollees receive subsidies, making it affordable. More Georgians would have insurance (we have the third highest state rate of uninsured nationally) if it weren’t for people like Hudgens opposed to taking federal dollars in Medicaid expansion. I guess he would rather see our tax dollars go to New York and California to fund their expansion efforts.
He throws out the usual right-wing rhetoric about the free market, virtually none of which has proven to be successful in the past regarding getting folks actually covered. Access is irrelevant if you can’t afford a policy.
Ask people in high risk pools pre-Obamacare in other states if they were happy? They were not. Neither has the current ability of the state of Georgia to have interstate sales of insurance (another right-wing policy item that the Freedom Caucus wants made mandatory for the nation, hypocritically gutting states’ rights) helped us appreciably.
But, the problem here goes far beyond Hudgens. Like Hudgens, I opposed the ACA, Obamacare, early on. I had letters in the Washington Post and USA Today about it.
However, I had a realistic alternative — single payer. Now, the tide is turning. Per survey research, blue collar and lower middle class people are starting to support real reform rather than just modification of the ACA (Obamacare).
I retired as a healthcare SVP, but I was the first person on either side of my family to go to college at all. My uncles were all cops, soldiers, postmen, and construction workers. I understand blue collar.
When it comes to the ACA, everyday blue collar people are conflicted. They know people who get insurance who couldn’t before due to pre-existing conditions. They like keeping their 25-year-old unemployed son on their insurance policy.
They do not like being told that everyone must participate or pay a fine. And, they do not like premium increases caused by the above (and having comprehensive insurance policies).
Since they are not insurance people, working class people cannot be expected to understand the complexities of the insurance market. The ACA is like a gym. You can’t get the benefits of the ACA without the pain. And, that includes the mandate for everyone to have insurance so it can’t be “cherry picked” with only the sickest insured, driving up rates astronomically.
I also understand why blue collar folks voted for Trump. But, Trump is stuck trying to provide “coverage” for everyone per his campaign promise (versus the red herring of “access,” disregarding affordability, as pushed by Ryan-Price). The best solution is to expand Medicare, something Trump said as recently as 2015. But, he would have to fight the insurance and big pharma lobbies to do it.
The only question is will Trump revert back to his pre-campaign advocacy of Medicare for All or not. Or continue on with extreme right-wing theories and politically (and morally) disastrous Trumpcare?
Jack Bernard
Peachtree City, Ga.
