Democrats are in absolute meltdown-mode over the potential for Obamacare to be repealed. The party is storming twitter with false statistics, illogical statements and ideological fallacies. They even hosted a “linking arms,” protest to “save health care.” Let’s breakdown the most popular irrational outbursts.
The most popular talking point is that “Trumpcare will KILL people." It's a reference to the legislation’s "cut" in Medicaid funding. Medicaid is a government program that was created to serve America’s most poor and non-able-bodied, ensuring that they have access to health care. The key words here are poor and non-able-bodied. Although Medicaid started out serving the aforementioned groups exclusively, the program expanded and lost course even before Obamacare was signed into law. Medicaid was failing to serve the groups it was created for, and Obamacare only increased the program's size. The government program was already limiting health care access to its enrollees and giving its users inadequate health care results. The majority of Medicaid’s enrollees were perfectly able-bodied and above the poverty line. What these facts tell us is that the program was not providing adequate care and was not serving the poorest, most in-need Americans. So which policy is causing people to die?
Democrats are spinning the false narrative that the Senate’s “mean” bill is cutting Medicaid. In reality, the legislation shifts the focus back to the lowest-income Americans. Obamacare expanded Medicaid 29%, or 74.6 million Americans, or one-in-four Americans. The program grew from its original model, serving women and children, to a safety-net for able-bodied Americans who would rather have hard-working taxpayers foot the bill for their health care, which impedes on Medicare access for people who are actually in need.
It is absolutely absurd to claim that the GOP bill will cut Medicaid. One of the primary goals of the Senate Republicans is to stop neglecting America’s most poor and non-able bodied, and that is exactly what this bill does. By offering an individual allowance to each state for Medicaid, the people who actually need the government assistance will finally be able to get it. Able-bodied people above the poverty line will see more barriers to access to government health care assistance. The Congressional Budget Office Score projects that Medicaid spending would rise from 2017’s $393 billion to $464 billion by 2026; an 18%, or $71 billion increase. Medicaid is not actually being cut; it will continue to grow.
Another popular jab the Democrats love to throw at the GOP’s bill is the false statistic that “22 million will lose coverage,”. This overtly irrational narrative comes from the CBO’s score, which tells us that 22 million will be uninsured by 2026. The question that Democrats do not want to answer is why there will be a loss in coverage. The real reason as to why 22 million will ‘lose’ coverage, as Speaker of the House Paul Ryan pointed out, is the repeal of the employer and individual mandates. These policies under Obamacare forced all employees to buy Obamacare insurance. The mandates are the driving force behind the ‘22 million’ statistic: if Americans are not forced to buy something that they do not want, they will not buy it. The GOP’s bill eliminates these mandates, that are nothing more than big government regulation, liberating Americans from being forced to purchase insurance. Under Obamacare, those who did not purchase insurance from Obamacare would be penalized with a non-compliance tax. Despite former President Obama’s promise to never tax Americans whose income is less than $250,000, 8 million American families in that income bracket opted out of Obamacare, and therefore were hit with the additional tax. The Obama administration labeled this as the “shared responsibility tax.” So 22 million are not actually “losing” insurance coverage. 22 million Americans are now free to choose if they want to purchase insurance or not, at their own jurisdiction.
The last consistent criticism of the GOP bill is the Planned Parenthood aspect. The legislation would indeed bring to fruition the long-time goal of many Republican lawmakers to defund the abortion giant that is Planned Parenthood. The current legislation on the Senate floor would defund the organization for a year, and cut taxpayer subsidies to abortions except for in cases of incest, rape and the life of the mother. Of course, the left uproared at the thought of having their precious “women’s health organization,” with abortion at the center of the business model, not funded by taxpayers. Just as continually explained by Republican lawmakers, the funding previously given to Planned Parenthood will be directed to Federally Qualified Health Centers, which outnumber Planned Parenthood locations 20 to 1. These clinics give comprehensive care to women, not just reproductive services, but do not provide abortions, bringing the focus back to women’s health. The bill is not outlawing abortion. It is merely ensuring that taxpayer dollars do not fund abortion services, since the Hyde amendment is not strict enough of a measure, and Planned Parenthood has never actually proven that their millions of taxpayer dollars have never once assisted an abortion. FQHCs provide better care to women, and a wider variety of services including mammograms and prenatal care, which, despite claims, Planned Parenthood does not provide. The Better Care Reconciliation Act finally shifts the focus away from abortion, and back to women’s health care.
Democrats nervously awaited the day that their tax-heavy, burdensome Obamacare legislation would be at risk of being dismantled. Despite Democrats yelling 'shame," clinging to this failingpolicy for dear life, and denying its implosion, Obamacare may be on its way out. After seven years of failed attempts to fix the failing policy, Republican lawmakers finally have a viable option to relieve Americans of Obamacare's burdens. The bill is not perfect, and still needs amendments to appease conservatives and moderates, respectively, but there is an end-of-Obamacare light at the end of this legislative tunnel.
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