Crimes against humanity
from David Ruccio
As regular readers of this blog know, I am no fan of the way healthcare is currently organized in the United States.
The U.S. healthcare system, as it is currently configured, only really works for those who make a profit—selling health insurance, pharmaceuticals, and in-patient and acute-care services in hospitals—and those who have the wherewithal to finance their own healthcare.
But Republican plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, and replace it with the American Health Care Act will move us even further from the goal of providing universal, affordable, high-quality healthcare for the American people.
The new act, aka Trumpcare, hasn’t yet been been scored by the Congressional Budget Office. And it will likely change as Senate Republicans get their hands on it.
source [ht: ja]
But the CBO analysis of Trumpcare (before it was amended prior to the House vote) indicated that it would increase the number of people who are uninsured by 24 million in 2026 relative to current law, raising the total number of uninsured Americans to around 52 million!
And, as former head of the CBO Douglas Ellmendorf has said, “What matters is not just how many people have insurance. But whether people who really need insurance have insurance.”
Who else is going to be affected (according to Heather Timmons)?
Well, to start with, the 178 million people who have healthcare insurance through their employers, because employers will be allowed to choose which state’s coverage guidelines they adopt.
Then there are the 52 million people with pre-existing conditions, including women who have had C-sections and people who have allergies.
Plus the 10 million with disabilities, including students in special education programs, who will be severely affected by cuts in Medicaid funding.
And, finally, the 60 million people in their 50s to mid-60s, who will likely face higher insurance costs.
So, yes, the Republican moves to repeal and replace key provisions of Obamacare represent crimes against humanity.
Who’s going to gain from these crimes? The usual suspects: large employers, who will no longer be required to offer affordable coverage to their workers; and wealthy individuals, who will face lower taxes and be allowed to save more money in tax-excluded health savings accounts.
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Real-World Economics Review Blog 
I agree with you : What I find patently absurd is that in America today : The wealthy no longer even have to carry their own offspring ( Gestational surrogates ) while tens of Millions don’t have basic health care . America’s twin evils , Health ( Mis ) Care and The Drug War / Holocaust – War On People . A pox on all their houses !
This brief article is real economics. It is economic reasoning that indicates a better way is possible. The US can sputter along on the low blue line while medicare for all is implemented. Real economics can also discuss ways a nation is better able to prosper with medicare for all.
White House advisor Steve Bannon has been quoted saying ” America iis not just an economy but a Civil Society ” . I am in the Dr. Michael Hudson camp that the FIRE ( Financial , Insurance and Real Estate ) rentiers have been indulging in parasitic economic behavior .
If and when a new political paradigm is established economic models will be necessary to calibrate Incentives both positive and negative .
There is another element to Trumpcare besides the mess it makes out of insurance coverage. The ACA was unique in modern legislation in that it provided taxes to pay for government outlays. These taxes were primarily imposed on high income individuals. The bill as passed by the House repeals most of those taxes. It is a truly horrid and immoral piece of legislation. Something which we Americans should get used to seeing under GOP rule.
With Trump – I personnally think if Donald Trump read a book His head would explode – we will probably be left with ACA and be treading water until 2020 . My argument against Insurance Co.s are : If in any great difficulty e.g. 9/11 , Katrina etc . The Government is the insurer of last resort , why have insurers period .
Imagine : Instead of the Drug War / Holocaust the Drug Habituation problem had been treated as a health issue and medicine had received all that treasure .
Unfortunately, the ACA itself is a crime against humanity when compared to a single payer plan. There are many analyses that demonstrate this. Obama said a few years before he was President that once there was a Democratic Congress and President there would be single payer but he himself worked against it when President. (https://www.healthcare-now.org/blog/obama-for-single-payer-before-he-was-against-it/) There have been many analyses of the effects on the economy of single payer, including one by Gerald Friedman and a more recent one at: http://annals.org/aim/article/2605414/single-payer-reform-only-way-fulfill-president-s-pledge-more
Keeping these compelling histories rarely seen is date-rape-drugging the population!
http://ShowRealHist.com/yTRIAL.html
Although everybody is ‘insured’ in the UK with the premiums an integral part of taxation the Conservative government have been squeezing the NHS of funds precipitating longer waiting times and rationing ( e.g. IVF, varicose veins – no longer available). However it does demonstrate that a comprehensive health service (a basic human right, surely) does need compulsory premiums but geared to ability to pay! It is extremely efficient with no third party (insurance agent/company) involved and no claims form to be completed. Is it only in The USA that “socialised medicine” is a term of abuse?
“If you don’t, this program I promise you, will pass just as surely as the sun will come up tomorrow and behind it will come other federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we have known it in this country until one day as Normal Thomas said we will wake to find that we have socialism, and if you don’t do this and I don’t do this, one of these days we are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children, what it once was like in America when men were free.” ~Ronald Reagan, 1961
Above is the ending of Ronald Reagan’s 10-minute album denouncing “socialized medicine” (single payer health care today)
Reagan makes two points very clear in his talk. First, socialized medicine will eventually lead to the destruction of the freedom (all freedoms) of American citizens. Second, that the American people reject and will reject socialized medicine. Both assertions are, however wrong. I don’t know that Reagan was aware he way lying. I’m not certain it would have changed what he said. The point is that the position outlined by Reagan has not changed to this day for so called American conservatives. I say so called conservative because socialism is quite consistent with communal conservatism. You know, communities looking after all their members. But socialism is not consistent with the financialized capitalism (neoliberalism) dominating our lives over the last 40 years. Reagan was a wonderful spokesperson for “big” business. He never uttered their names in selling his points. Focusing instead on protecting Americans’ freedom while consistently failing to mention that the government about to take it away is chosen by Americans to represent their interests. Reagan, on the other hand represented the interests of big business. In 1961 and during his Presidency. Paul Ryan and most of the Republican Party carry on this bait and switch. The AHCA is proof of this.
And why didn’t Obama fulfill his promise to instituted single payer? As my old boss in the US Senate used to say, “A President has about a thousand enemies to fight. Impossible for him to conquer all of them.” Obama couldn’t beat the insurance companies. No President has since TR. TR had several accurate hunting rifles to use in that battle. He used them well. Personally, I favor assault rifles.