Now that Senate leader McConnell has scheduled a vote to repeal Obamacare on Tuesday, we will find out which Republican Senators are true to their voters.
President Trump was elected and the House and the Senate are in control of the Republicans because they promised they would repeal Obamacare. It’s that simple. The people in 2016 decided we wanted to get rid of government’s expanding control of our medical care, our businesses, our money and our choices.
We chose freedom, with all its risks, over allowing the tentacles of Obamacare to control what health coverage we could have, who we could have for our doctors, and how we were going to be taxed to pay for it. Small and large businesses were ordered, under penalty of thousands of dollars per employee to pay for certain policies regardless of their financial situation. So they responded by reducing workers hours, making full time workers into part time workers to avoid that burden.
Obamacare is part of the Progressives assault on our freedom with its redistribution of income and expansion of the role of government. Clearly, the battle has begun. It is a war of Socialism against Free Enterprise. Just this Sunday Senator Schumer, Minority leader in the Senate, said that, “Single Payer Health Care is on the table”.
American’s were victimized by the foisting of the so called Affordable Care Act upon us and we suffered the loss of coverage, huge rate increases, higher deductibles and tax penalties. If you thought that was bad wait until the State Exchanges go under and millions of people will have to scramble to get covered or wind up without any insurance at all.
The media and even the Republicans have ignored to a great extent, the worst part of Obamacare- we were told that everyone would have coverage- and what did we get? 27 million Americans still have absolutely no health Insurance! Further proof of the failure of governmental control over our lives.
By repealing Obamacare on Tuesday we’ll have two years during which time positive changes will be implemented that will result in better health care and reduced medical costs. For example, Health Savings Accounts can be expanded (ask anyone with an HSA if they like their plan), and reduction in the cost of Medicaid can be achieved. Pro bono care for the needy, which gives doctors a tax deduction for treating patients for free will save Medicaid billions of dollars a year. Likewise providing services like Teladoc to those on Medicaid, will save billions more as the patients can call a doctor for advice at a cost of $40 compared to a visit in the ER at a cost of $350 or more. It is estimated that 60% of Emergency Room visits could be eliminated with that service. A new type of medical practice, Direct Primary Care, where you pay a set monthly fee to a local doctor has proven to lower costs, increase incomes for doctors thus encouraging them to continue to practice and provide better medical treatment for the patient.
All of these improvements and the reduction of the cost of our health care can be achieved with the repeal of Obamacare. On Tuesday we’ll learn which of our Senators have the courage and the foresight to put aside their political fears and allow America to continue to have the greatest health care in the world.
Dan Weber is founder & CEO the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC).