Graham-Cassidy Healthcare Bill is just Another Attack on the American People!

Flickr

    The latest attempt buy the Republicans to take away healthcare form the American people is the Graham-Cassidy Healthcare Bill.  The Republicans are trying to ram it through before September 30, the deadline they they themselves set.  This would repeal Obamacare and force approximately 18 million people off the healthcare rolls.  It would eliminate insurance for pre-existing conditions, eliminate maternity coverage and eliminate the lifetime bans on the amount of lifetime benefits.  It would also raise premiums for most people.

    This plan would drastically cut the amount of money paid to the states through medicaid which assists lower income people.  It is interesting to note that the states that would be hit the hardest are Blue states, such as California and New York!  This his money in return would be given to states, such as Texas and Alabama, which are Red states! Sound like a reward for those states who voted for Trump.  All of the national patient and health groups, such as the American Medical Association, the American Heart Association etc. are vehemently opposed to this bill.

    Of course the Republicans are not listening to these groups or the American people, but instead are paying more attention to the Koch brothers, who have said that if the Republicans do not pass a repeal of Obamacare they will cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions to the Republicans!

    Why don't the Republicans like Obamacare? There are three reasons. (1) It was a Democratic plan, (2) it helps the women and poorer members of our society, while fairly taxing the rich and most importantly (3) it was created by a Black president!!!!!

Obamacare is the Law of the Land

 

    After the Republicans were unable to even take a vote on their repeal of Obamacare, House Speaker Paul Ryan admitted defeat by declaring that "Obamacare is now the law of the land".  The Republican's replacement for Obamacare, Trumpcare, was only favored by 17% of the American people, a dismal failure.  The Democrats did not at all support the bill, while moderate Republicans were against it because too many people would be hurt by it and The Freedom Caucus (the former Tea Party) thought it was too generous and too much like the original Obamacare. Apparently the Freedom Caucus doesn't really give a damn how many poor people dies, as long as there  is a windfall for the wealthy! 

    Immediately after the defeat Trump blamed everyone but himself. He blamed the Democrats because they did not support the bill, while in actuality the Republicans are in the majority and do not need a singe Democratic vote! At first Trump didn't blame Ryan, but just today he changed his mind and placed the blame on Ryan, suggesting he resign. If anyone needs to resign, it's Trump! Trump then totally gave up on offering a decent healthcare bill and decided  to move on to something else to occupy his short and shallow attention span.  He was surprisingly calm about his epic failure, which is quite uncharacteristic. He did however, say he would wait for Obamacare to completely implode, which was a veiled threat that he would do everything in his power to destroy it, regardless of how many people, both his supporters and non-supporters, would suffer.   His whole life he has been a very vindictive person and he is going to retaliate for his failure and take it out on the American people, if he can.

    The United States is the only developed country in the world that does not offer its citizens free healthcare, instead it has the highest healthcare costs in the world, so that CEOs of big pharma and healthcare insurance companies can receive outlandish pay packages.  The Republicans have had over 7 years to come up with a plan that would benefit the American people by offering decent affordable healthcare and keeping costs down, but all they could come up with was a plan to benefit the wealthy, while taking away healthcare from 24 million people and punishing older people, children, middle class families and women! How compassionate of them! 

     For the past 7 years they have promised to repeal Obamacare, the first and only healthcare plan for the American people, which just happened to be from the first Black president.  They succeeded in replacing the actual name of the plan, the Affordable  Care Act, with the name of the Black president who gave it to us, thus linking it to Obama and pandering to its racist base.  It is unbelievable how so many people support the ACA, but not Obamacare!  There is only one sensible solution to the Republican healthcare plan and that is to change the name to something associated to a white person, instead to a person  of color. Perhaps, call it White America Health Plan for Real Americans!  Then all of the GOP and surely all of Trump's supporters can support it!  But the best thing this country can do for its people is to offer healthcare for everyone under Medicare. This will never happen because with the Republicans in Congress, if anything is to be done for the Average American, a hell of a lot more has to be done for the wealthiest of Americans who don't need it!

Is There Ever A Point Where One Can Have Too Much Money?

Everyone, at some time or other, has wished they had more money than they actually do. Many people have little or no money from a job or business and depend on public assistance.  There are many people who are living from paycheck to paycheck, who naturally wish they had more money to spend for their daily living expenses, health care or education. There are many of us who just wish they had a little more money to spend on that dream vacation, dream house or some kind of special toy. Then there are those who are literally drowning in money. Mitt Romney comes to mind.

I am retired now and I live on a relatively fixed income of social security and a pension. I often wish I had more money to spend on a bigger house or more lavish lifestyle, but I am 100% sure that what I have is what I have, for ever. Unless, of course, this and my other blogs start to make a hell of a lot of money, rather than the meager dollar a month average. So instead of me dreaming about becoming rich  I watch the candidates for the GOP presidential nomination attack each other, with Romney taking most of the attacks. Since I have lived in Massachusetts I knew Mitt Was rich, but I really didn't give it much thought, until a couple of days ago.

When Romney revealed what he paid in income taxes I was a bit surprised. On one site I read that if you take the net worth of all of the presidents from Nixon to Obama and then double that, you are approaching what Romney is worth.  Another site I read allowed the user to figure out how long Romney would have to work to equal their own salary. He would have to work almost 12 hours for him to make what I receive in 1 year. On the other hand I would have to work 731 years to equal Mitt's salary. Maybe I'll just try to stay alive for only another 600 years! Romney's net worth is estimated to be about $200 million. A tad more than mine.

I was trying to think what I would do with $200 million. I really had a difficult time coming up with ideas on what I could do with the extra money.  After getting a bigger, nicer house, giving money to family, donating to charity and buying some tech toys I would still have a lot of money left. I can't imagine what Mitt uses all of that money for. Sure he has 3 big houses, but I am sure they are paid for. Taxes are a concern, but apparently he pays less in income taxes than the average American. He gives to charity, mainly to his church, but this is also tax deductible.

Now he is running for president. He certainly doesn't need that meager income, so it must be just a power trip. One thing is for sure. If he does become president, he will leave office even rich than when he entered. So why do he and other millionaires and billionaires need so much money? I guess the answer to that question will never be known. Most of us, I am sure will never have the chance to find out for ourselves what it feels like to be filthy rich. So I guess we just have to be happy and enjoy life with what we've got.