"Donald Trump and the Republican Congress gutted the American health care system. There is no plainer way to say it. The did it intentionally and with malice aforethought. Insurance is now more difficult to obtain and significantly more expensive in many cases. [snip]
"The Republicans have no problem ballooning the deficit with monstrous tax cuts for the wealthy. They however find their fiscal discipline in cutting health care for those who most need it-low-income workers and the elderly.
"Too many Americans shoulder the blame for this travesty. Mistrustful of Medicare for All, they choose instead to pay wealthy insurance companies for care less reliable than what their tax dollars will fund. Net-net, patients are losing money and suffering the staggering bureaucracy inflicted on them by private insurers. All of this because the Republicans scream socialism and scare what could be an otherwise receptive public.
"Medicare
for All as it is proposed by its advocates is optional. People who wish
to do so may keep their private insurance. There is every reason to
believe that a mandatory system would work, however. It does so in most
European countries. If the public realized that they would pay less in
taxes than they presently pay in exorbitant premiums and co-pays, there
might yet be hope..." (our emphasis) -- Mark Mansour, in his "America's Fractured Politics" Substack, on "Fixing the Health Care Disaster Brought To Us By The Republicans." The impacts of their "Big Beautiful Bill (for billionaires)" on Medicaid and with it rural hospitals, elderly and low-income workers, will be seen over the next months and years as changes kick in two months after the mid-term elections. Their guiding principle in all things related to the general welfare of the American people is to afflict the afflicted and comfort the comfortable. The only hope is that Democrats do a better job of informing the voting public about what the reality is, exposing the scare tactics, and what Democrats will do to fix the mess if returned to power -- Medicare for All.
