Thursday, March 29, 2012

29 March 2012 Get sick, don’t bother the GOP


          Forbes reviews the Romney-Leno appearance last night.  Romney has no plan to replace the affordable care act beyond ignoring the poor, beyond ignoring those who put off buying insurance until they became ill, beyond blaming Obama for the mess the GOP\teavangelists have made of every attempt to reform health care. 
          Forbes acknowledges that the mandate to purchase individual policies is necessary if the U.S. citizens wish to retain the good policies and practices already in place thanks to the ACA.  For those good practices to continue, all of us must be in the pool of insured. 
          Sound like socialism to you?  Too bad.   If you want to continue driving on public highways, eating and drinking safe foods and water, sending your kids to public schools; then wake up and realize that the way we pay for those things is by taxing everyone for the privileges that we take for granted.  Socialism?   European socialism?  Hell yes! 
          Romney and the rest of the candidates are too young to remember what it was like before Medicare.  The great lie they advance is that doctors provided charitable care and that the community coughed up for those who were too poor to pay. 
          This argument ignores the advances in health care that have taken place since LBJ signed off on Medicare.  Most of the diagnostic procedures we take for granted today didn’t exist or were simply not available in doctors’ offices. 
          Community charity rarely extended beyond a carried in casserole and a pauper’s grave.  I know this because I was already working, running the precursors of the high-level diagnostics we take for granted today.  What we consider necessary diagnostics today was all-too-often still science fiction. 
          Romney spilled the beans last night.  The teavangelists have no plan B to wheel in if the SCOTUS overturns the ACA.  The health care mantra is going to change.  “We’re the Tea-Party, we want our Medicare back.”  They were warned to be careful about what they wished for.  Feel free to lay the blame at their feet.

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