The Republicans in the Senate are considering how to move forward with the repeal/replacement of Obamacare. We know the House plan; it was passed by that body some weeks ago. Right now, the Democrats are trying to stop the GOP senators from moving forward with their version of the bill. It's sad, but the Democrats have decided that the best way to fight the Republican efforts in the Senate are to follow the original playbook used when Obamacare was passed. We all remember the three big Obamacare lies: 1. If you like your plan/doctor you can keep your plan/doctor, period. 2. Obamacare will reduce premiums for the average family by $2500 per year. (They're actually up by more than $3000.) 3. Obamacare will reduce the federal deficit. (It's projected to add close to $160 billion per year to the deficit for the next ten years. There were more lies, but these are sufficient.
Now, to fight the GOP plan, the Democrats are going with new lies. This was well illustrated by an article that just appeared in The Week. Here are some of them:
1. The GOP plan is "a tax cut for rich people paid for with Medicaid cuts". This is standard Democrat mythology; supposedly, the Democrats represent the poor while the GOP represents the rich. Of course, if you look at the election results, you find that the wealthy in the USA are strong supporters of the Democrats. The richest districts in the country nearly all have Democrats as their congressmen. Why is that? The answer is simple: it's the Democrats who preserve and protect all the government programs and positions that lock in the positions of the wealthy. Just look at the eight years of Obama. It was Democrat programs that created a "recovery" from the great recession for which over 80% of the gain in income went to the wealthiest 10% of the country. In the past, the benefit from recoveries were much more to the middle class and poor. So it was Wall Street and Big Banks who caused the recession according to the Democrats, but the policies followed by Obama and the Democrats gave the recovery to.....you guessed it....Wall Street, Big Banks and the wealthy.
It's also worth noting that the House plan provides that for the next three years, there will be no cuts in Medicaid. After that, anyone already on Medicaid will be grandfathered into that program. In other words, no one on Medicaid today will lose coverage. The Senate bill is not final, but it is widely known that the Senate bill will extend that three year period with no change. These are the supposed cuts about which the Democrats are talking. There are no cuts.
2. The second Democrat lie pushed by the article is that the Senate "process — just as in the House — is proceeding under a cloud of total secrecy." This is blatantly false. There were hearings, mark ups, and the like in three different House committees. The bill was before the House for more than a month after that. There was a final amendment passed by the House which made a few modifications to gain a majority of votes, but it was all done in public and according to normal House procedure. this contrasts dramatically from the way that the Democrats originally passed Obamacare. Everyone remembers when Nancy Pelosi famously said that the House would have to pass the bill to learn what was in it. There was no mystery in the House. And as for the Senate, we are still early in the process. Bills do not get written in public. Once they get proposed, however, there will be ample time to review and discuss the bill. In other words, this whole Democrat attack is a lie.
3. The third Democrat lie is that the goal of the Republican bill will be to remove healthcare from the poor and to have fewer Americans uninsured. That's ridiculous. According to the CBO which the Democrats want to lionize, the average policy will cost thousands of dollars less under the GOP plan than under Obamacare. That makes health insurance more affordable, not less.
I realize that by working with the media to push the Trump/Russia attack, the Democrats have come to believe that any lie repeated often enough will get them what they want. They're wrong. In a battle between the lies the Democrats are pushing and the truth, it is the truth that will triumph. It may take a battle, but the truth will prevail.
Now, to fight the GOP plan, the Democrats are going with new lies. This was well illustrated by an article that just appeared in The Week. Here are some of them:
1. The GOP plan is "a tax cut for rich people paid for with Medicaid cuts". This is standard Democrat mythology; supposedly, the Democrats represent the poor while the GOP represents the rich. Of course, if you look at the election results, you find that the wealthy in the USA are strong supporters of the Democrats. The richest districts in the country nearly all have Democrats as their congressmen. Why is that? The answer is simple: it's the Democrats who preserve and protect all the government programs and positions that lock in the positions of the wealthy. Just look at the eight years of Obama. It was Democrat programs that created a "recovery" from the great recession for which over 80% of the gain in income went to the wealthiest 10% of the country. In the past, the benefit from recoveries were much more to the middle class and poor. So it was Wall Street and Big Banks who caused the recession according to the Democrats, but the policies followed by Obama and the Democrats gave the recovery to.....you guessed it....Wall Street, Big Banks and the wealthy.
It's also worth noting that the House plan provides that for the next three years, there will be no cuts in Medicaid. After that, anyone already on Medicaid will be grandfathered into that program. In other words, no one on Medicaid today will lose coverage. The Senate bill is not final, but it is widely known that the Senate bill will extend that three year period with no change. These are the supposed cuts about which the Democrats are talking. There are no cuts.
2. The second Democrat lie pushed by the article is that the Senate "process — just as in the House — is proceeding under a cloud of total secrecy." This is blatantly false. There were hearings, mark ups, and the like in three different House committees. The bill was before the House for more than a month after that. There was a final amendment passed by the House which made a few modifications to gain a majority of votes, but it was all done in public and according to normal House procedure. this contrasts dramatically from the way that the Democrats originally passed Obamacare. Everyone remembers when Nancy Pelosi famously said that the House would have to pass the bill to learn what was in it. There was no mystery in the House. And as for the Senate, we are still early in the process. Bills do not get written in public. Once they get proposed, however, there will be ample time to review and discuss the bill. In other words, this whole Democrat attack is a lie.
3. The third Democrat lie is that the goal of the Republican bill will be to remove healthcare from the poor and to have fewer Americans uninsured. That's ridiculous. According to the CBO which the Democrats want to lionize, the average policy will cost thousands of dollars less under the GOP plan than under Obamacare. That makes health insurance more affordable, not less.
I realize that by working with the media to push the Trump/Russia attack, the Democrats have come to believe that any lie repeated often enough will get them what they want. They're wrong. In a battle between the lies the Democrats are pushing and the truth, it is the truth that will triumph. It may take a battle, but the truth will prevail.
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