Until there is a tangible alternative, we should end this frivolous war on Obamacare. While the GOP members of Congress voted towards repealing Obamacare, they have yet to offer a concrete substitute, willing to deny almost 18 million people critical healthcare coverage (according to the Congressional Budget Office). Obamacare – formally called the Affordable Care Act – may not be unflawed, but is better than the void left in its absence.
Some have accurately contended Obamacare has serious deficiencies. Because of the lukewarm reception, Obamacare has seen a sky-high increase in premiums, causing some insurers to pull out the exchanges. I should also note, the states that have rejected key aspects of the Obamacare have some of the highest premiums in the country (e.g. Texas), and some of the lowest healthcare enrollment numbers.
This is valid criticism, but with few or no replacements, Obamacare remains the least poor option available. People are signing up in droves as of late. Obamacare enrollments for 2017 hit a record amount. This is a telltale sign that there is robust support for Obamacare, despite the alleged high price tag.
Recent polls indicate Americans don’t want to repeal Obamacare without a replacement, but no known alternatives to Obamacare exist. The only Republican senator to vote against repealing Obamacare, U.S. Senator Rand Paul, says he has a plan. While the libertarian-leaning senator has yet to offer specifics, his plan will prospectively be free market centric.
President-elect Mr. Donald Trump has yet to reveal anything except for making vague statements about guaranteeing everyone is covered, but bizarrely, do away with the detested provisions such as the individual mandate. The outlandish part is that the unpopular provisions pay for the popular provisions of Obamacare. How will Trump pay for his plan?
You may be upset with Obamacare, perhaps it was oversold, but the reality is many people receive lifesaving medical care as a result of its passing such as my cousin. My cousin is dirt poor. He wasn’t able to afford healthcare before the inception of Obamacare. Subsequently, he had to wait for a medical issue to become a crisis to receive treatment at an emergency room at hefty taxpayer expense.
Under Obamacare, this is no longer occurring. My cousin regularly sees a healthcare provider, and has received treatment for conditions left untreated would cost him his life. You can argue that Obamacare was oversold, I agree, to some extent, but until we have something to fill the void, why are we willing to strip healthcare from the low-income and working-class families across the United States?
Why rush to repeal Obamacare? We should not put the cart before the horse; let’s have a thoughtful, reasonable discussion about a replacement, produce a tangible substitute if still warranted, and try from there. For people like my cousin, it is a matter of life or death.
Matt Fecteau ([email protected]) of Pawtucket, Rhode Island was a Democratic candidate for office in 2014 and 2016. He is a former White House national security intern and Iraq war veteran. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewFecteau
Related Slideshow: Trump’s Win - What Does it Mean for Rhode Island?
"We don't really know what a Trump presidency means for the nation, never mind the smallest state. One of the unintended consequences of last night's results is that Sen. Jack Reed won't be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Chalk that up as a loss for RI."
"Trump’s win means that his signature issue, illegal immigration, could have a big impact on RI, hopefully reversing our course as a sanctuary state and saving the state taxpayer millions of dollars. While we agree with his 'repeal and replace' Obamacare stance, we have no idea what that means to the RI debacle known as UHIP. It is not a stretch to believe that federal funding for this kind of system will be off the table so, will RI be stuck with this massively expensive system that still doesn’t work and that is expected to cost another $124 million to fix?
Trump's belief that there is significant fraud in the Food Stamp program and the policies that may come from that belief could have a negative impact on RI's local economy since there are businesses in certain cities that rely heavily on this program, fraud and all. On the upside, we may be able to ditch the UHIP program if there is significantly less need for processing welfare program requests (ie. Medicaid and food stamps) resulting from fewer illegal immigrants and less fraud. While we are ambivalent about his touted child care policies, if enacted, it may force our legislators to revisit the ever growing state cost of subsidies in this area and possibly reduce the fraud and abuse in this system."
"The RI congressional delegation just became even less powerful than it was. With unified government, Trump doesn’t need to quell Democrats’ concerns or acquiesce because he’s worried about a Democratically-controlled Senate.
His appointments will reflect that. His executive orders will affect that. And the conservative policy agenda he puts forward will affect that."
"Well there's a few things -- because there's not going to be gridlock, that's a big difference if it had been Hillary and a GOP Congress, in which nothing would got done. We'll at least get a half a billion in infrastructure that's going to pass which will have an impact.
I think you'll see there will be reduced reliance on government nationally -- and that's where we'll stick out like sore thumb. We've relied way too much on government -- and our government is highly inefficient and ineffective. Maybe, just maybe, in this who cycle of things we might be forced to be small and more efficient for once.
A couple of other things -- interest rates jumped. The one to follow is the ten year government bond rate -- which is tied to mortgages. It went from 1.7% to 2.05% in one day. The point is -- if the ten year stays high, mortgage rates will start going higher -- and in the short time people will run to re-finance.
That's the short term impact -- but then if rates stay hight, that will make mortgages more out of reach. And we just passed a bond issue to limit open space -- housing has limited upside here.
The next thing -- the Fed Reserve will go ahead with tightening next month. A strong dollar will hurt manufacturing. When the dollar is strong our exports become more expensive overseas.
Our goods production sector -- manufacturing and construction -- in the near term will do a little better, but as time goes on will be more limited. But something you won't hear, is there are lags in fiscal policy, of six months to year. So we won't really see the effects until the third our fourth quarter of 2017, going into 2018."
"As the unbelievable turned into reality this morning, it struck me that the presidential election was not really all about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. It was about a fed-up people, revolting against a corrupt system - the "beast" - that relentlessly favors insiders. Hillary personified the beast, while Donald personified the slayer.
Sadly, based on election results in our state, Rhode Island's version of the beast lives on. I fear our political class has not learned the lessons from the Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump movements - and will continue with their government-centric, anti-family, anti-business status quo."
"A Trump Presidency means the validation of the ugliest part of America. In RI, as with the rest of the country, the hammer of his hatred will fall hardest on minority communities. Being a blue state doesn't make us immune from this danger.
Trump won over 35% (39.5) of the vote here! We need to look in the mirror, and not lie about what the reflection shows us. No more hiding underneath a blue blanket. I expect those who claim Democratic values to be true to those values. The gulf between words and actions have turned into fertile ground for Trump's message to grow here in RI. If you call yourself a Democrat, if you claim to stand in opposition to Trump, now is the time to prove it. Show up and fight back."
