Trump Loses it Over Healthcare Debate

Trump Loses it Over Healthcare Debate

by Stephen Lendman

He’s part of the problem, not the solution, wanting to fatten the bottom line of industry predators at the expense of affording all Americans a fundamental human right.

The solution to resolving debate over healthcare is as clear as expanding Medicare to cover everyone.

Yet this fundamental right is rejected by Republicans, Democrats and all administrations, even New Deal and Great Society ones.

What was unattainable earlier is scoffed at now. Trump lashed out against GOP failure to repeal and replace Obamacare with a tirade of tweets, saying:

“Republicans in the Senate will NEVER win if they don’t go to a 51 vote majority NOW. They look like fools and are just wasting time……”

“….8 Dems totally control the U.S. Senate. Many great Republican bills will never pass, like Kate’s Law and complete Healthcare. Get smart!”

“After seven years of ‘talking’ Repeal & Replace, the people of our great country are still being forced to live with imploding ObamaCare!”

“Unless the Republican Senators are total quitters, Repeal & Replace is not dead! Demand another vote before voting on any other bill!”

“If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!”

He referred to billions of dollars paid annually to insurers – fattening their bottom line, not lowering premiums for low-income households.

If subsidies to insurers stop, premiums will skyrocket more than already. On Friday, Trump tweeted let Obamacare “implode.”

Most Americans want Medicare for all. Congress and the White House rule it out for discussion.

Physicians for a National Health Program president Dr. Carol Paris said GOP senators’ failure to repeal and replace Obamacare is no justification for retaining the unacceptable status quo.

It’s time to expand Medicare to cover all Americans. The world’s richest country is the only one without some form of universal coverage.

Millions are uninsured, most others underinsured. “Compared to ten other wealthy countries, the US ranks dead last for life expectancy, and access to care,” Paris explained.

“We even have the lowest number of hospital beds per capita, a way that health experts measure the capacity of a nation’s health system.”

“It’s as if our system was designed to deny care” – along with making it increasingly unaffordable for low and middle-income households.

America ranks highest in time and energy wasted on billing and insurance claims. Among developed nations, it has the highest infant mortality and percentage of avoidable deaths.

The system is dysfunctional, based on the ability to pay, spending double the per capita amount of other developed nations, providing worse care overall.

For America’s least advantaged, proper care for serious illnesses is increasingly out of reach, tens of millions affected.

Nearly a third of US healthcare spending goes for things other than providing care, what medicine is all about – not enriching industry CEOs, dealing daily with a stifling bureaucracy, and ripping off consumers.

From her experience in dealing with Medicare, Paris said “as a physician (it’s) worked pretty darn well for more than 50 years.” It’ll work well in perpetuity if properly administered.

Expanding it to include everyone, covering everything related to care is easily financed by current company and individual payroll deductions, along with annual savings of around $500 billion in insurance premiums.

“We’ve tried everything” but the obvious solution, Paris explained. It’s time to adopt the only equitable alternative.

Nothing else works properly for the great majority of Americans.

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My newest book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

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